Thugs dodge jail

THEY were in a pack of out-of-control teen yobs who left a Good Samaritan seriously injured in a shocking taxi queue attack over a cigarette – but now two violent thugs have walked free from court.

Shaun Kelso became aggressive and made threats to an elderly man who was recovering from a heart attack, all because he wouldn’t give him a cigarette.

Former armed forces man Liam Douglas was so appalled at the behaviour, he decided to step in to help the frightened pensioner.

At that point Kelso, Jack Reid and two others launched a savage onslaught on Mr Douglas involving kicking and stamping on his head.

The gang ignored desperate pleas by Mr Douglas’ partner to stop before they killed him and she “dived on him like Superman” to try to protect him.

A court heard Mr Douglas was left unconscious with blood coming out of his mouth, nose and ears and with a serious injury to his spine, which required him to have emergency surgery to remove a vertebrae.

Kelso, of Princes Street, North Shields and Reid, of Monkhouse Avenue, North Shields, both 16 at the time, had been charged with inflicting GBH with intent but prosecutors accepted their guilty pleas to the lesser offence of GBH.

Despite what a judge described as “sustained and brutal attack” on an innocent man, bricklayer Kelso and Reid, who works in administration at a local authority, have been given suspended prison sentences.

Newcastle Crown Court heard it was in the early hours of Saturday July 9, 2016 when Mr Douglas and his partner, Monique Wright, went to a taxi office in North Shields after a night out.

As they waited for a cab, they were standing next to an elderly couple while four youths were loitering in the area, including Kelso and Reid.

One of the group approached Mr Douglas and asked for a cigarette and he refused so the youth asked the elderly man, who gave him a handrolled cigarette.

Kelso then also demanded to be given a cigarette, prosecutor Liam O’Brien said, but the retired man was “unwilling or unable to give him one and that resulted in Kelso becoming aggressive.”

Mr O’Brien continued: “Mr Douglas at that point, a former member of the forces, sought to intervene and he was set upon by all four, who attacked him and sent him to the ground where he was kicked and stamped on repeatedly, including as he was lay prone and vulnerable. Monique Wright bravely intervened to try to help her partner, diving on him like Superman, as one witness described it.”

Miss Wright told the attackers they were going to kill Mr Douglas, but that had “no effect” in ending the onslaught, the court heard.

Both Kelso and Reid accepted they had kicked Mr Douglas in the head while he was on the ground.

The victim was left unconscious with blood coming out of his mouth, nose and ears and was vomiting repeatedly.

He was taken to hospital and found to have a displaced vertebrae which was compressing his spinal cord. He required emergency surgery to have a disc removed and had to have a metal cage and plates screwed to his spine.

Referring to victim impact statements, Mr O’Brien said: “He said all this happened because an old man didn’t want to give cigarettes to some youths.”

Kelso, 19, who has cautions for battery and using threatening words or behaviour from 2016, and Reid, 18, who has no previous convictions, were both sentenced to 16 months suspended for 18 months with 150 hours unpaid work and £600 compensation.

Geoff Knowles, for Kelso, referred to the “appalling nature of what happened on that particular evening” but said he had gone off the rails after a tragedy involving someone close to him.

Nick Lane, for Reid, said he is “disgusted with himself ” but has worked hard to improve himself since the attack.