Shop worker left with broken jaw after he challenged shoplifter
JUDGE HANDS DOWN TOUGHEST SENTENCE IN THE CIRCUMSTANCES
A THUG punched a shop worker in the face twice after he was challenged for trying to steal a phone charger from the shelves of the store.
The worker was left with a double fracture to his jaw, which left him with nerve damage and paralysis to part of his face, after the attack in the Co-op in Knightthorpe Road, Loughborough.
A judge considered the attack so serious that he asked why the culprit, Ryan Lawson, had not been charged with a more serious offence when he appeared in Leicester Crown Court.
Lawson was spotted trying to take the charger by a team leader at the Co-op at 5pm on Sunday, October 10, and was ordered to put it back before he was immediately banned from the store.
However, he then kicked over a charity food container on his way out, before saying “I don’t care” when challenged.
Lawson then went towards the employee, who pushed him aside, before Lawson punched him in the face, knocking off the victim’s spectacles.
Sinjin Bulbring, prosecuting, said: “When the (victim) bent down to retrieve the glasses, Lawson punched him in the same place on the jaw.
“He immediately knew something was wrong. His teeth felt out of place.”
The victim was in hospital for three days, off work for nearly a month and on a liquid diet for six weeks.
When arrested 13 days later, 30-year-old Lawson was found with two small deals of cannabis, which he admitted possessing for personal use.
In interview, he accepted going to the Co-op to steal and blamed his “poor memory” of the assault on the use of drugs – but said he was ashamed of his behaviour. The sentencing judge at Leicester Crown Court, Robert Brown, asked why
Lawson had not been charged with the more serious office of grievous bodily harm (GBH) instead of actual bodily harm (ABH) when he appeared at Leicester Crown Court for his latest offence.
Mr Bulbring said the decision had been made by the Crown Prosecution
Service.
The court heard Lawson had “an appalling record”, including five offences of common assault, three offences of assaulting police officers, an affray and several break-ins.
In 2019, he was jailed for 876 days for being a “third-strike burglar”.
He was on an early release licence from that sentence when he attacked the Co-op employee.
It resulted in Lawson’s parole being revoked and him being recalled to prison to serve the remaining balance.
Paul Prior, mitigating, said: “My client does have previous convictions for violence, but nothing for anything as serious as this.
“There’s no evidence of planning – he accepts he went there to shoplift – and no weapon was used and it wasn’t a prolonged assault.”
Lawson refused to attend his sentencing hearing, sending a message from his cell saying he was unwell and content to be dealt with in his absence.
Lawson was jailed for a total of 20 months, which included a one-third discount for entering an early guilty plea.
Passing sentence, Judge Brown said: “This is as bad a case of ABH as you can get. It could easily have been charged as a Section 20 GBH, but he hasn’t been and I must be faithful to the sentence. But this is at the top of the range.”