Teen's jail term cut for brick attack
A Midland teenager who admitted throwing a 45lb lump of bricks and mortar from a railway bridge, hitting a passing train and badly injuring its driver, has had 18 months cut from his seven-and-a-half year sentence behind bars.
A Midland teenager who admitted throwing a 45lb lump of bricks and mortar from a railway bridge, hitting a passing train and badly injuring its driver, has had 18 months cut from his seven-and-a-half year sentence behind bars.
Daniel James Ratcliffe, aged 17, had admitted two counts of damaging property, reckless as to whether life was endangered, in November. But he appealed and yesterday, in a hearing at the Criminal Court of Appeal in London, was granted an 18-month reduction by three top judges.
Judge Henry Globe QC, who sat with Lord Justice Moses and Mr Justice Cranston, said seven-and-a-half years in custody for a person as young as Ratcliffe was too long – despite the seriousness of his offences.
Ratcliffe was locked up with his accomplice, Kevin Clee, aged 18, after dropping the lump of bricks from a railway bridge near Kidderminster Station on the night of December 17, 2006.
Their target was a passing passenger train.
But, having hit the roof of one of the carriages, the lump bounced into the path of 56-year-old Joseph Paxton's freight train.
The heavy lump smashed into the front window of the train, causing it to fall inwards, smashing into Mr Paxton's face and chest and knocking him unconscious.
The out-of-control train continued, without the aid of a driver, for a further half a mile before automatic braking systems kicked in and brought it to a halt further down the line.
Mr Paxton, of Perry Barr, was left with 29 fractures to his face and serious cuts to his neck and face and still suffers the physical and psychological effects of the injuries and the courts were told he was unlikely to ever return to his job.
Appeals for information resulted in both Ratcliffe and Clee being caught.
Ratcliffe, of Broad Street, Kidderminster, initially denied the offences and did not plead guilty until the day of his trial, but Clee of Grasmere Close, Kidderminster, admitted his guilt earlier and received a lesser six-year sentence as a result.
Mr Andrew Davidson, for Ratcliffe, said his client's sentence was too long. Reducing the sentence to six years, Judge Globe said: "We need to be mindful of what is the appropriate sentence for acts of this nature, where serious injury, but not death, results, and where committed by very young people."
