Sussex wrote:
Top judge slams Nottingham taxi drivers who sat and watched train passenger attack
A top judge today quoted Shakespeare as he slammed the Nottingham taxi drivers who sat in their cars and did nothing while a public-spirited train passenger was savagely beaten by a young thug. Robert Steel annoyed hoodlum, Robert Elliot, 24, by touching him on the arm as he tried to persuade the younger man to pay his fare on a Newark-Nottingham train in May last year.
Infuriated by this perceived lack of "respect", Elliot stalked Mr Steel and his wife to the station taxi rank at Nottingham, where he and another man subjected Mr Steel to a vicious beating.
Today, three top judges at the Court of Appeal rejected an appeal by Elliott against his two-and-a-half year sentence for causing actual bodily harm.
But, quoting from Shakespeare's Henry IV, Mr Justice Kenneth Parker also had harsh words for the taxi drivers who sat in their cars while the attack took place. "Very bravely, the victim's wife sought to ward off these two young male attackers from her stricken spouse," said the judge.
"In contrast, the heroic taxi drivers, who no doubt heeding the wise words of Falstaff, chose to a man - if that is the right word - discretion is the better part of valour and stayed safely in the comfort of their cabs as spectators of this savage spectacle."
The incident began when Elliot got onto the train at Lowdham with a friend. They had no ticket and were told to either pay up or get off.
Mr Steel went to help the train guard by persuading Elliot to pay so that everyone could get home, touching his arm as he did so. "This intervention offended his twisted concept of respect he thought was rightly due to someone of his status," said the judge.
At Nottingham, Mr and Mrs Steel realised they were being followed and were accosted when they reached the taxi rank. Elliot lunged at Mr Steel and burned him with a cigarette, before punching him and then, with his friend, kicking him while on the ground.
Mrs Steel grabbed the other man's bag and refused to hand it over when he demanded it back. Fingerprints on the bag helped police track the men down. Through his lawyers, Elliot complained today that his sentence was too long for the attack. He would feel "crushed" by such a long sentence, the judges were told.
Mr Justice Parker, sitting today with Lord Justice Laws and Mr Justice Jeremy Baker, rejected the appeal. "The only people who will have any legitimate cause for such an emotion are the victims of the appellant's criminal violence," he said.
Sounds about right for the Nottingham lot. They'll be looking for their next £50 job to Ashfield.
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