TIG Post

Tag: Newcastle Crown Court

  • Bus driver who ran over a grandmother imprisoned

    Bus driver who ran over a grandmother imprisoned

    A bus driver who drove over a grandmother of three because he believed, incorrectly, that she had previously tried to go without paying was sentenced to prison.

    As a result of her terrible injuries, Joan Scott, who was 83 at the time of the incident, had to have both of her legs amputated.

    She attempted an attempt to board a double-decker bus run by Scott Cliff on September 19, 2021 at Battle Hill Drive in Wallsend, Tyne and Wear.

    Cliff locked the doors and began to drive away as Mrs. Scott entered the vehicle, trapping her walking stick inside.

    Mrs. Scott, a local resident, was dragged beneath the bus’ wheels.

    Her left leg was amputated on the spot, and her right leg was amputated in a hospital a few hours later.

    Cliff was sentenced to 27 months in prison today at Newcastle Crown Court for endangering others while driving recklessly.

    ‘The bus driver didn’t even allow her the option to produce the bus pass she had with her, all because he felt he recognised her as not previously paid a fare or having a bus pass she had with her,’ said Mrs. Scott’s granddaughter Sarah after the sentencing.

    He chose to close the bus doors in her face in order to forbid her from boarding. Who could possibly do that? She is in her 80s and didn’t plan to hurt anyone.

    The bus driver’s actions two years ago, according to Mrs. Scott’s son Brian, “took the head of my family in such a shocking way.”

    She is imprisoned in a damaged body that was brought on only by the deeds of one person, he said.

    By offering a place of safety on the bus, Mr. Cliff maintained a position to aid and protect the weak. It hurts me that he didn’t do that for my mother.

    This may have been avoided if Mr. Cliff had treated my mother with more kindness and respect.

    He has ruined our family, and we hope that this horrific occurrence will alert other motorists to pay attention.

    “My grandma is no longer herself in any way, shape, or form,” Brian’s son Jack continued. I used to take her out to lunch very frequently because she was such a busy woman who was out and about all day. We would spend a lot of time together just sitting and talking.

    However, it is no longer feasible. She would be extremely upset if she was left alone for even a short period of time. My heart is breaking for you.

    Cliff agreed to driving recklessly and causing significant injury, claiming that he would not have done so if he had known Mrs. Scott’s walking stick was in the way as he pulled away.

    PC Catherine Lloyd, who handled the inquiry, commended Mrs. Scott’s family for their perseverance and cooperation throughout the trying process.

    “What happened that evening was truly tragic, with irrevocable consequences,” she stated.

    “There is no question that Cliff’s actions have ruined more than one life forever, and it should act as a harrowing reminder to everyone as to what can happen if you are behind the wheel of a vehicle and act carelessly, dangerously, or without due consideration to others.”

  • Woman sent narcotics to boyfriend who was incarcerated

    Woman sent narcotics to boyfriend who was incarcerated

    By concealing the narcotics in puzzles and artwork, a woman sent drugs to her partner who was incarcerated.

    After the guidelines for loved ones sending gifts to inmates were loosened during Covid, Charmaine Orange delivered Dean Wright various substances by hiding them in jigsaw and matchstick puzzles and blending them with paint.

    In addition, according to evidence presented at Newcastle Crown Court, $17,000 went through her bank accounts after she chose to ignore the fact that her ex-boyfriend Wright was using her information to receive money from his drug trafficking business within HMP Northumberland.

    However, after a judge was told mum-of-two Orange was in a controlling relationship with Wright, he spared her an immediate spell behind bars.

    Liam O’Brien, prosecuting, said the drugs supply offences happened in April and May 2020. He told the court: ‘She did so in a couple of different ways.

    ‘During lockdown, the prison changed the rules so family members could send things like puzzles and jigsaws.

    ‘On one occasion the defendant sent a matchbox puzzle containing drugs and another time a jigsaw had drugs hidden in it.

    ‘There was also a painting with paint which had drugs mixed with it. Another time, blue powder was put in a bag and hidden between two pieces of paper. It leaked and went all over the post and the whole of the prison post had to be binned as it was contaminated.’

    Orange, 35, of Walling Road, Blakelaw, Newcastle, was traced as the sender as her bank card had been used to pay for postage.

    The 34-year-old, who has two previous convictions for an environmental and a driving matter, pleaded guilty to supplying buprenorphine, diazepam and a psychoactive substance – flualprazolam.

    She was sentenced to nine months suspended for 12 months with a one-month curfew between 8pm and 6pm. She faces proceedings under the Proceeds of Crime Act.

    Jamie Adams, defending, said: ‘This woman was leading a very hard-working lifestyle and had two children to look after. She met Dean Wright and he was not physically abusive but intensely emotionally abusive.

    ‘That’s what brought her to this offending.’

    Mr Adams said when Orange sought to break up with Wright, he wrote what appeared to be a suicide note blaming her and branding her a ‘murderer’ for what he was threatening to do to himself.

    Mr Adams added: ‘She accepts there are monies that have gone into her account which had emanated from drugs she sent in to him when he was in custody. He was clearly making some profit out of what was sent in.

    ‘He was giving people her bank details. She was not profiting from it at all.’

    The court heard her bank details were found in at least five prison cells occupied by inmates other than Wright.

  • Student jailed for life after stabbing grandmother 29 times to death

    Student jailed for life after stabbing grandmother 29 times to death

    After bingeing on alcohol and ‘high intensity’ skunk marijuana, a student attacked a grandma with 29 stab wounds in a ‘vicious and mindless’ attack. The student was sentenced to life in prison.

    Following an extensive nationwide manhunt, Alexander Carr, 33, was found in custody in north London several weeks after his friend Michelle Hanson, 47, was ‘gruesomely’ murdered at her Sunderland home in December.

    ‘She said he was one of the good ones,’ the distraught sister of the mother of five testified to Newcastle Crown Court. She was so mistaken.

    Carr pleaded guilty to murder and was jailed for life with a minimum term of 19 years.

    The court heard he knew alcohol and drugs had a serious impact on his mental health but still got intoxicated that night before inflicting terrifying violence on Ms Hanson.

    Daffyd Enoch KC, prosecuting, said the victim was repeatedly stabbed in the neck, that Carr had used a knife on her at least 29 times and that she was extensively bruised around her body.

    Pieces of a broken dinner plate were found in her hair.

    After escaping through the bathroom window, Carr went on the run to London and was found weeks later living in a tent near Upper Holloway railway station.

    When police arrested him after a struggle in which they used a Taser, the powerfully built 33-year-old was found to have a commando knife with him.

    Carr had a troubled childhood, has a long history of violence and was diagnosed with personality disorders and the court was told it was somewhat ‘remarkable’ he secured a place at university.

    Psychiatrists agreed he was not suffering from a psychotic illness at the time of the murder.

    Ms Hanson, who lived in an upstairs flat in Brady Street, Sunderland, had been paid that day and bought a bottle of vodka and a takeaway.

    A witness, who cannot be named, saw Carr sitting with her that night and later described him seeming ‘nuts’ and ‘speaking in funny accents’.

    The witness was reassured Ms Hanson was OK and left, only to return the next day to find her lying dead in a pool of blood.

    Nicholas Lumley KC, defending, said Carr had previously been diagnosed with personality disorders, post-traumatic stress disorder and psychosis and had been sectioned under the Mental Health Act when he was younger.

    Mr Lumley said Carr had written to the judge and admitted: ‘I knew my mental health issues were getting worse and I wish I had tried to seek out more help, rather than self-medicating with the excess of drugs and alcohol.’

    Judge Paul Sloan said Carr initially lied to psychiatrists but eventually admitted he had smoked skunk – ‘which has a high potency’ – that night.

    ‘You became increasingly anxious and paranoid and believed you were about to be harmed,’ he said.

    ‘I have no doubt that the principal reason for your paranoia was your voluntary consumption of skunk in combination with alcohol.

    ‘Your paranoia culminated in a brutal attack upon Ms Hanson.’

    Ms Hanson’s daughter Shannon Brown read out an emotional victim statement to the court, saying: ‘My mam was taken in such a vicious and mindless attack.

    ‘We believe that her last moments would have been spent in fear.

    ‘To think she welcomed this evil person into her house as a friend is unbearable.

    ‘He has taken advantage of a vulnerable, kind and loving woman.

    ‘It is horrific to know he towered over her in both height and strength and my mam was defenceless.’