Anti Knife Crime by Mark Davies

THE case against a man accused of robbing a woman in a terrifying gang attack was thrown out of court because his victim was deemed to be "too believable" in the witness box.

Judge Jamie Tabor, QC, praised driving instructor Denise Dawson, 36, for being "honest, utterly decent and brave" in giving evidence against 20-year-old Liam Perks.

But he stopped the trial on the grounds that her good character would unfairly sway the jury against the defendant, a self-confessed burglar.

Mrs Dawson, a mother of two, was repeatedly punched in the face when her car was surrounded by a gang of youths while she gave a student a lesson on a Bristol housing estate.

She identified Perks as the man who had leaned into the car and rummaged through the glove compartment while her laptop and mobile phone were snatched.

But the judge halted the trial at Bristol crown court on its first day because it was based solely on the victim's word against the defendant's - and she was too credible.

Mrs Dawson said she felt she had been "kicked in the teeth" by the ruling. She said: "I was absolutely terrified after I heard he had pleaded not guilty and I would have to go to court to testify.

"The whole incident was a nightmare and I felt sick when I was told the trial had collapsed. What more can I do? I positively identified someone from a video ID parade and was prepared to risk everything in going to court but it's still not enough.

"I considered giving up and quitting driving instructing because the attack left me scared but I just love it so much. Whenever I drive through the area I was attacked now I have the windows locked in fear of being attacked again."

The judge told the court: "Denise Dawson was a particularly impressive witness because she showed courage, clarity of thought and was undoubtedly honest.

"The jury may lend more weight to her evidence than her facts allow.

"You cannot be sure she got it right... had this been the Archbishop of Canterbury's son, would I have allowed (the trial) to go on? The answer is no."

He offered Mrs Dawson a £250 bravery award for her actions.

In a separate case, Perks admitted conspiracy to burgle for a gang which stole and sold on motorcycles and prestige cars. He will be sentenced for that offence later.

The court was told that Mrs Dawson had been giving a driving lesson on the Southmead estate in Bristol in December 2007.

Her student Jodie Dickinson, 26, was practising hill starts when a gang of youths surrounded the car.

The instructor locked the doors but her terrified pupil froze and stamped her foot on the brake, preventing them driving off.

Mrs Dawson locked the doors but one of the yobs smashed her rear window with a brick, reached in and grabbed her laptop before running off.

Mrs Dawson, who runs Denise's Driving School, chased him and asked for her computer back but he simply clutched it in his arms and walked away. She then returned to her Ford Focus after she spotted one of the youths rifling through her glove box. She later picked out Perks as that man.

Mrs Dawson suffered a broken nose when she was repeatedly punched in the face by other gang members, who ran off with her mobile.

Mrs Dawson said after the trial: "I feel Liam Perks got a better deal out of it than I did..

"I feel very upset - what more do they want? I can't sit there with a camera. How much more evidence can I get? My workload has gone down. It has knocked my confidence."

A spokesman for Victim Support said: "Witnesses and victims expect the court to look after them and it can be a devastating experience, as I'm sure it is in this case, when someone is cleared on a technicality."

This is just unbelievable. I'm sad to say that I truely believe that currently there is no such thing as justice in the UK. I've said before that I am sad that fraud cases very often receive far longer custodial sentences than cases of horrific attacks & murder; but the case above just takes the biscuit. Why am I writing about a case which doesn't involve a knife in this blog though?

The government says it is very concerned about youth/knife/gun/gang/violent crime. I'm sure that there are some people working in government who are genuinely concerned about those types of crime, though I am very critical of some of the ideas they come out with. The problem is that until the government takes a reality check, stops listening to all the hand wringing pressure groups, & starts listening to the normal good law abiding people out there- WE ARE NOT GOING TO MAKE ANY REAL DIFFERENCE TO THE PROBLEMS THAT THIS COUNTRY IS FACING.

The majority of the misery & heartache that decent law abiding people go through when THEIR RIGHTS ARE VIOLATED, is caused by the minority of HABITUAL CRIMINALS. I've said many times that in my experience working around the underbelly of society, it is the same small band of people who are 'well known to the police' who break into peoples houses & cars, attack people, maim & murder, take & deal drugs, & generally make the lives of everyone around them miserable. Unfortunately the government & lawmakers seem to be unable to comprehend that slapping these folk lightly on the wrist with community service & fines that they can pay back at £5 a month just doesn't work. Before we see any real reduction in youth crime, knife crime or gang crime the government has to stop trying to rehabilitate people who have proven that they are habitual criminals & are unreachable. Incidents like the one reported above just makes all the yobbos & chavs laugh even louder, & sends a message to them that they can get off with even more.

Want to see a real reduction in crime & anti social behaviour? It's simple! If someone commits 3 crimes such as burglary, theft, serious assault, drug dealing (on any scale), they receive a mandatory 15 year custodial sentence without potencial of parole or early release. There comes a point where our society has to take a reality check & realise that the nice touchy feely "lets try & rehabilitate the poor wee criminals, & we must respect their right to Sky TV & a movie every week" way of doing things isn't working. We need to become less tolerant of crime, & much harder on those people who refuse to be a good & productive part of our society & who prefer to cause harm instead. If the government built more prisons, & locked up repeat offenders so they couldn't harm the rest of us, we would see far fewer examples of the terrible crimes that have become all too common in our news as the predators who commit these crimes would be locked up where they can only prey on each other.

One final thing. If you read the terrible story above & are as disgusted as me, write a strong letter to your MP. Write a strong letter to the Justice Minister. Make some noise & make sure that everyone knows that incidents like this are totally unacceptable.