Our justice system let these thugs hurt OAP

ANYONE who saw or heard 89-year-old Eva Sutton interviewed about the vicious burglary and assault that changed her life could not help being deeply moved.

Here was a woman who had lived in the same house for more than 50 years – indeed, who had reared her family there – but who had to move out because of the appalling savagery of two criminal thugs.

Mrs Sutton herself could not contain her tears as she described being no longer capable of even looking at her family home because of the awfulness of her ordeal.

What is equally horrifying, though, is that both of the men who attacked Mrs Sutton were career criminals. Between them they had amassed a staggering 120 convictions for other crimes.

Once again, though, our justice system failed our citizens; instead of being safely locked up for their litany of offences, Michael Cash and Jamie O’Brien were free to terrorise an 89-year-old woman in a brutal fashion – kicking her in the head and chest and puncturing the frail pensioner’s lung. She was left physically and mentally scarred and the ordeal almost destroyed her life.

But it gets worse: both her attackers were also out on bail at the time.

Our system had seen fit to let two men like this, with their records, roam free despite facing other criminal charges.

The sickening truth is that our criminal justice system bears much of the responsibility for what happened to Mrs Sutton. And until our politicians bring in new laws to lock up career criminals, and to refuse bail thugs like Cash and O’Brien, they too bear a major part of the blame.