Six Of One, Half A Dozen Of The Other?

Sometimes, it’s hard to tell…

Lee Edge was under the influence of drink when he targeted Everton Greaves, who was walking to his mother's house in Hanley.

Stoke-on-Trent Crown Court yesterday heard Mr Greaves was on Moorland Road, Burslem, when he saw three drunken men at 8.20pm on April 17 last year.

"One was the defendant and he shouted he wanted to the fight the complainant," said prosecutor David Bennett.

"He chased the complainant along Hanley Road shouting racist and homophobic insults and demanding his telephone.

"He punched him several times to the floor and continued to punch and kick him. The attack continued in the middle of the road."

The court heard Mr Greaves managed to get to his feet and sought refuge in a nearby garden. But Edge followed him into the garden and continued the attack.

Thus involving the householder:

Mr Bennett said the householder intervened and at one stage threatened to set his dog on Edge if he did not stop.

"Edge demanded a gold tooth (from Mr Greaves) and tried to knock it out. He punched him in the mouth and ran off. The complainant's mobile phone, worth £30, was taken," said Mr Bennett.

Well, well, well…

Mitigation will be awesome, I’m sure:

Anis Ali, mitigating, said Edge has a lot to learn regarding his inability to control aggression.

Errr, yes. You could say that!

He said the best mitigation was Edge's guilty plea, which spared Mr Greaves the ordeal of giving evidence and having it challenged.

Interesting comment. Just how could a fairly straightforward-seeming violent street robbery be ‘challenged’?

Mr Ali added: "He understands he has to adopt a more sensible attitude towards his life. He expresses a renewed sense of optimism towards his life. He understands he has to address his drinking habit."

Note, he just ‘understands’. There’s no indication he actually plans to DO any of these things!

Judge Paul Glenn told Edge the offence was aggravated by his homophobic and racist abuse.

Well, of course! I mean, the beating and robbery alone wasn’t half as bad otherwise…

In the comments, we see that people are no longer fooled by the headline, when it comes to sentencing:

by focusboy

“So, he's going to serve "up to" half the sentence, which makes it 2 years, and he's already done 210 days on remand which is taken in to account, so he's actually going to do a lot less than a year and a half.

I don't call that being "jailed for four years".”

Nor would anyone!

However, a clue to that odd claim by the defence pops into the comments:

by Danni_1991

“Before you judge this 'homophobic thug' please read this story

http://tinyurl.com/6n2m4ay

Then tell me if he is homophobic why is it that many of his friends are homosexual Yes he did do something wrong but i can tell you one thing for sure he is not homophobic

So get from behind your keyboards in your pretty little world and get to the real world . You people judge people far to quickly and if you have opened the link i have pasted above you will realise that Everton Greaves isnt the victim he makes out he is he is just as bad. Im not saying that what Lee did was right because it was far from right ! And he knows this. I will stand by whatever I say.”

That link leads to this story:

Everton Greaves committed a "sneak in" burglary at a house in Hamil Road, Burslem, at 6.30pm on Friday, April 26, Stafford Crown Court heard.

Prosecutor Neil Ahuja said one of the householders left her home with her boyfriend and his friend inside. She left the door closed but unlocked. But when she returned five minutes later she saw the defendant walking out her front door carrying three cans of lager with a jumper draped over them.

"She alerted her boyfriend and his friend and they began to follow the defendant," said Mr Ahuja.

"She continued to keep a view on Hamil Road. She saw the defendant come out an alleyway where he recovered about 20 CDs which had been taken from her house.

"Her boyfriend and his friend followed to a property in High Lane. When they went on the driveway to get the property back they saw the defendant holding a small knife."

The defendant went into the house and came out with a larger knife.

The police had already been called and they arrested the defendant.

Greaves, aged 43, now of Grove Place, Shelton, pleaded guilty to burglary and affray.

Well, well, well… I think this whole affair is what is commonly known as a ‘S**t on s**t attack’…

Interestingly, the defence clearly recycles the same old excuses – amazingly, drink is to blame for burglary too!

Peter McCartney, mitigating, said these offences were out of character for Greaves. "He drank too much," said Mr McCartney.

But was sober enough to steal lager and DVDs, and not, say, cushion covers?