‘Why did judge free carjack thug?’
A GRANDMOTHER who was carjacked at knifepoint by a career criminal yesterday criticised a judge who let him walk free from court just a week before the terrifying attack.
Sally Anstee, a care co-ordinator, was sitting in the Mazda MX5 sports car she had bought as a birthday present for herself when Shaun Lee threatened her with a knife and dragged her out of the vehicle.
He sped away and went on to rob a supermarket before smashing Ms Anstee’s car into a row of parked cars.
A week before the incident in March this year a judge handed Lee, who has been in and out of prison for most of his adult life, another chance by deferring sentence on him for a series of thefts and a burglary.
A deferred sentence is one that is suspended until a defendant completes a period of probation. They may then have the sentence and conviction cleared from their record.
Lee, 42, of Boscombe, Bournemouth, was jailed for four years in 2009 for trying to rob an off-licence. He committed that crime while on licence having served part of a 46-month sentence for another robbery attempt.
Ms Anstee, 51, of Christchurch, Dorset, said had Lee been jailed again she would have been spared the traumatic episode which has taken a psychological toll. After seeing Lee jailed for six years at Bournemouth Sally Anstee was threatened with knife Crown Court for the carjacking, she said: “It keeps me awake at night. I have no idea why he wasn’t behind bars. Why the judge deferred sentencing is beyond me. If the judge had not done that, then I would not have had to go through my ordeal.
“I’m angry about what happened. I know he is in prison but he will be getting three good meals a day and I’m suffering. I don’t feel safe.”
Timothy Compton, defending, said Lee, who admitted robbery, possessing a knife and dangerous driving, was “depressed, suicidal and intoxicated” at the time of the offences. The trail of destruction left by Lee after he stole Ms Anstee’s car and sped off Lee, 42, had a string of convictions