54 years for Watson acid carjack gang
Three jailed after boxer’s trauma
THREE men who sprayed ammonia at Michael Watson during an attempted carjacking were yesterday jailed for a total of 54 years.
The disabled boxing legend, 53, was dragged for 500 metres as thugs tried to speed off in the VW Golf with him still hanging out of the door.
Carer Lennard Ballack, who was driving, was also doused with ammonia during the incident on February 16 last year.
Michael, who suffered a nearfatal brain injury in his 1991 fight with Chris Eubank, said in a state- ment he had suffered “nothing but flashbacks” since the attack in Chingford, East London. At Snaresbrook crown court, Simon Luck, 29, Paul Samuels, 31, and Anselm Legemah, 23, were found guilty of conspiracy to rob and applying a corrosive liquid. Luck and Samuels were also convicted over a similar carjacking days earlier. Legemah was given 16 years’ jail, Luck got 18 and Samuels 20. Judge Oscar Del Fabbro said they were “modern highwaymen”. He said of Michael: “He is made of sterner stuff both physically and mentally.”