A car thief was “lucky to escape a murder charge” after mowing down a heavily pregnant woman and her mother in a bungled robbery with horrific consequences.I think the luck was with them, that they weren’t killed, surely?
Scar-faced Darren Stubbs, of Mitcham Road, Croydon, was sentenced to nine years imprisonment after pleading to guilty to robbery, actual bodily harm, assault and dangerous driving.Good god! And yes, he has previous. Lots and lots of previous…
Anna Swervyn, 54, was rammed and then dragged several yards by her son-in-law’s Audi A3 after Stubbs, who masqueraded as a car buyer, stole the keys and tried to make a quick getaway from the family’s home in Dorset Road, Mitcham.
The Polish grandmother was left with a pelvis broken in eight places – now held together with metal screws - and major organ damage for which she is still receiving treatment.
Stubbs, a 36-year-old father of three children, who has convictions for a string of robberies and violent offences over nearly twenty years, told the court he needed money to pay for drugs and repay a debt to loansharks.The judge wasn’t impressed at all with the usual efforts at ‘mitigation’:
Judge Dodgson said: “[Mrs Swervyn’s] injuries were dreadful. They included injuries so severe she was admitted to intensive care.Heh! That showed him…
“You have had a lasting and malign influence on her life. You’re fortunate that you are not facing a murder charge.
He later added: “You say you needed money to find your drug misuse. It is right that you express regret in about one-eighth of your letter.
“The other seven-eighths is an explanation about what a hard time you have had and how these offences are going to affect your family.
You have had many years to reflect on that. It does not mitigate your position.”
Sadly, the judge is all talk, no action:
Stubbs will serve at least four-and-a-half years of his nine year sentence, minus the 261 days he has already been in prison on remand.It’s a joke. A sick joke.
"'The other seven-eighths is an explanation about what a hard time you have had and how these offences are going to affect your family."
ReplyDeleteOh wait... then don't do the f*cking crimes!
"Stubbs, a 36-year-old father of three children"
ReplyDeleteIt's the last four words that really bug me.
If he'd been banged up earlier for longer, it might have read 'father of two children'. Or one child or, best of all, not a father at all.
There are times when sharia law doesn't seem so bad.
ReplyDeleteThis is one.
"It's the last four words that really bug me."
ReplyDeleteWelcome the next generation of delinquents and future thieves...
Sooner or later AP, I must look into how often, statistically, whether the regularity you lick up this stuff means that these creeps form the bulk of our serious offenders. I suspect this is so and many of them are just waiting to step off the roundabout our legal system has become for them. I took a look at the top defaulters on repaying criminally gained money recently and found ethnic names in a ratio of 3:5. I wonder what the ratio of scumbag:daft and unlucky is on serious crime?
ReplyDeleteSo why not give the bastard 18 years so that he serves the 9 she should serve? This automatic halving of sentences makes a mockery of the whole process.
ReplyDeleteI know Darren Stubbs personally and am deeply upset that he only received such a short sentence. He deserves to rot. He is a father of 2 not 3 both of which are lovely children who I hope will continue to have nothing to do with him. If you believe Stubbs should receive a longer sentence and not be able to ruin his children's livesor any other persons for that matter please comment with details I can contact you on as I am trying to build a case against him. Thanks
ReplyDelete