Shop attack thug jailed for 6 years
Yob walked out of police station an hour before assault
ATHUG returned to brutally attack a shopkeeper for a second time after being allowed to walk free from a police station. Macauley Declan Cook (pictured right) was jailed for six years after a court classed him as a ‘danger to the public’.
Macauley Declan Cook attacked victim Siraj Bawla behind the counter of Ashrafi Convenience Store on Spencer Street, Accrington hitting him four or five times with a brick.
The court heard that he took himself to the police station a few weeks later knowing he was wanted for the attack, but was told to come back the next day.
Within an hour he then returned to the shop and assaulted Mr Bawla again causing a 2cm cut to his head. Sentencing Cook, of Bold Street, Accrington, Judge Andrew Woolman said: “It seems to me inevitable to impose an extended sentence in this case in order to protect the public from serious harm from you.”
ACOCAINE and alcohol- f uelled thug who attacked the same shopkeeper TWICE in four weeks with rocks and bricks has been jailed for six years and classed as a ‘danger to the public’.
Macauley Declan Cook committed the first assault just hours after being bailed by magistrates for a separate offence of threatening to kill his mother and launched the second unprovoked attack within one hour of trying to hand himself into police, a court heard.
Victim Siraj Bawla was sat behind the counter at Ashrafi Convenience Store on Spencer Street, Accrington, on August 2 when Cook walked in and jumped over the counter before hitting him with a ‘fist-sized’ brick.
Prosecutor Stephen Parker told Preston Crown Court that Cook then took Mr Bawla in a ‘headlock’ and hit him a further ‘four or five times with the brick to the back of the head’.
He was taken to hospital and received treatment for ‘cuts and bruises’.
The court was told that earlier the same day Cook had pleaded guilty at Blackburn Magistrates Court to making threats to kill against his own mother and was granted bail ahead of the sentencing hearing.
Cook, of Bold Street, Accrington, later told police that he immediately started drinking alcohol with a friend after being bailed and the friend ‘suggested to him the shopkeeper had grabbed his younger brother’, the court heard.
Mr Parker said Cook went to the shop with the intent of ‘ whacking the shopkeeper’ and when he saw a rock lying on the ground beforehand he thought ‘this will do some damage’.
The court was told that Cook, 22, eventually stopped hitting Mr Bawla because ‘it would be a serious crime scene if he carried on’.
The defendant also told police in interview that he ‘becomes hyper when excited’ and was hyper going to assault the shopkeeper as he ‘ knew he was going to enjoy it’.
Cook appeared at Blackburn Magistrates Court on August 29 and was given a 20-week jail sentence, suspended for 18 months with restraining order not to contact his mum.
The court was told that Cook then went on a ‘drinking and cocaine binge’ overnight and the next morning, August 30, was due to attend a ‘community payback’ scheme.
However the defendant immediately left because he ‘didn’t want to pick up’ dog dirt and presented himself to Accrington police station.
Mr Parker said he admitted to carrying out the attack against Mr Bawla on August 2 and it was ‘all over Facebook’.
Officers said they couldn’t find a record of him being wanted on the national police database and told Cook to return to the station the next day for a voluntary interview.
However within one hour of leaving the station he returned to the same shop and attacked Mr Bawla again.
The incident was captured on CCTV and showed Cook bursting into the shop and throwing three rocks at the vic- tim and a glass mallet which caused a 2cm wound to his head.
When Cook was interviewed by police he said the first time he assaulted Mr Bawla it was ‘too much’ and the second time he just wanted to ‘bang him’.
Cook said he ‘plays darts and knows he is a good shot’ and when he saw the glass mallet on the counter he picked it up and thought ‘that was a bonus’.
A victim impact statement read to the court told how father-of-five Mr Bawla was left ‘very scared to go back to work’ and ‘can’t understand’ why Cook attacked him as he ‘had done nothing at all to provoke him’.
Cook pleaded guilty to wounding with intent and ABH.
Judge Andrew Woolman classed him as a ‘dangerous offender’ and jailed him for six years with an extended four years on licence.
Cook will need to serve at least four years behind bars before being considered for release by a parole board.