Gunman still a ‘danger to society’ as appeal case thrown out Trainee accountant led secret double life as drugs runner
ATRAINEE accountant – jailed for blasting a man at point–blank range leaving him “millimetres from death” – has failed to win a cut to his sentence.
Autistic Chad Greatbatch, 22, gunned down his victim as he sat in a parked BMW outside a shop in Tiverton Road, Selly Oak, in July 2016.
The injured 27–year–old miraculously survived the brazen attack, despite being shot in the chest and the bullet lodging in his neck.
Greatbatch, who has Asperger’s syndrome, was arrested days later with drugs, drug money, and another firearm with ammunition.
He also had with him a pair of gloves which analysis proved he had been wearing during the Tiverton Road shooting.
Greatbatch, from Birmingham, was jailed for 17 years, with an eight–year extended licence period, at the city’s Crown Court last October. He pleaded guilty to attempted murder and had previously admitted firearm possession and supplying drugs.
Lord Justice Flaux told London’s Appeal Court that Greatbatch had been leading a “double life”.
He presented himself as a polite, intelligent man, who had been training as an accountant, the court heard. But he was secretly running drugs and guns for money.
His lawyers argued he had wrongly been labelled dangerous and his Asperger’s syndrome should have led to a shorter sentence. He was “somebody who was easily–led” and had been badly influenced by others, the court was told.
But Lord Justice Flaux said he had involved himself with a “toxic mix” of guns and drugs and had justifiably been found dangerous.
The judge added: “He was not deterred from attacking the victim in public and seemed oblivious to the fact that the victim might have died. He was only millimetres away from killing the victim,” the judge added. We are quite satisfied that 17 years’ custody was neither manifestly excessive, nor wrong in principle.”
The judges ruled he had rightly been labelled a ‘danger to society’.
The Appeal Court did, however, reduce Greatbatch’s extended licence period from eight to five years.