Pensioner sentenced to 18 months for beating the hell out of a Hell's Angel

[charlie]

The biker knocked the 66 year old's glasses off and called him a "f*cking Jew" before getting his head caved in.

...He said: "Stephen Hall knocked the defendant's glasses off and the defendant got up from the table and struck Mr Hall with a full swing of his walking stick."

Mr Hall spent five days in hospital after the attack on April 19 last
year.

He also suffered bleeding to his brain and damaged nasal bones and cuts.
Degroot pleaded guilty to causing grievous bodily harm.

...

Mr Duffy said Degroot only struck one blow and it was not premeditated.
Witnesses in the pub saw the exchange between the two men before the violence.
The barrister described Mr Hall as a "large man with a fearsome reputation" who behaved in an abusive and aggressive manner.

Mr Duffy added: "The complainant is 6ft 3in, has a shaved head, is of a heavy, muscular, build and in his fifties.

"Mr Degroot can neither be described as large or muscular...



http://www.yorkshireeveningpost.co.uk/news/OAP-jailed-for-beating-Hell39s.6549754.jp

[MrScorpio]

1. Old Dude's probably a Vietnam Vet

Either way, he's bad ass.

[JVS]

7. Brits in Nam?

[NNN0LHI]

11. There were a few

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Her-Majestys-Vietnam-Soldier-Bransby/dp/1854211676



This review is from: Her Majesty's Vietnam Soldier (Hardcover)

"Her majesty's Vietnam soldier" was intended to be the first of three books by Guy Bransby, the second was called "Her Majesty's Falklands Interrogator" . So far a third does not seem to have materialised. Bransby joined the British Army in the late 1960's as a British artillery officer, serving in peacetime Cold War Germany. At the end of his service he went to New Zealand and joined that country's army, ending up serving with New Zealand and Australian Special Forces alongside American Units of the same ilk in Vietnam. He took part in many battles, and was awarded the Vietnam Medal, which has only been worn by a tiny number of British soldiers.

[Historic NY]

2. Good for him....I think his walking stick was made by Louisville.

[TygrBright]

3. I'm bettin' the other guys at the hoosegow walk wide around this one. n/t

[smalll]

4. That's today's Britain.

The snot-nosed yobs know that the police will ignore them, and arrest instead solid citizens who occasionally lose it and stand up to them. They KNOW they have all the power. (Rather like students know they have the power over their teachers, even in this country: think about it; the average British citizen is reduced to the impotent powerlessness of the average American classroom teacher!)

As a (white) adult, I'd MUCH rather walk down the worst streets of today's Bronx than walk down your average British High Street and run the gauntlet of the hoodies.

[merqz]

5. Did you see the movie Harry Brown?

GREAT movie I saw recently. Kind of Death Wish'esque and starring the great Michael Caine. This story is just like the plot in Harry Brown where he plays a bad-ass pensioner former Royal Marine who strikes back against the yobs who are terrorizing the neighborhood.

I also think the US criminal justice system has much more respect for the concept of self-defense than the british one does. I've read numerous cases that highlight the differences. I am NOT saying THIS case was self-defense, I'm just saying I've seen/studied many cases in the US where people stood up to bullies and did NOT get charged, let alone tried and convicted even though they caused quite serious harm in some cases. There is no duty to retreat in US law, generally speaking, and self defense is better protected. In my state, the prosecution has the burden of DISproving self-defense, not the other way around, which makes cops and especially prosecutors reluctant to go after people for defending themselves. In fact, if the jury finds the defendant DID act in self defense, the state must pay legal fees, lost wages, etc.

Violent crime in general (apart from murder) is much higher in the UK, fwiw.

[reggie the dog]

6. the uk is way safer than the usa

i have been to the uk many times and have never had a problem.

[14thColony]

9. I agree

It certainly does seem that the police here are keen to "make an example" of anyone who tries to defend themselves or others from attack, regardless of the circumstances. It appears to me that this has become a society where being a passive victim of violence is seen as your civic duty.

I can't remember which paper it was last week that had a headline from some police official to the effect that "we've handed to streets over to the yobs." Well no shit. So how about doing something about it instead of indulging in the national sport of lamenting and hand-wringing?

I'm no fan of heavy-handed police tactics in the US, but then I'm no fan of "call us once you're dead" police tactics in the UK either.

[old mark]

8. Why should the old guy be sentenced at all? Seems like he did the

town a favor that no one else had the balls to do. Fucking Brits...


mark

[safeinOhio]

10. Hope that Angel loses his colors

as his "brothers" may think him unworthy to be a punk, getting KO'd by an old fart.