Praise for have-a-go heroes
Published: October 5, 2006
A judge has praised two have-a-go heroes who were slashed with a knife when they intervened as youths vandalised a car outside a pub.
Richard Clack (39) and Wayne Froggatt (43) received gashes to their arms from a knife wielded by Benjamin Shutt outside The Crown in Killamarsh.
Shutt (18) of Norwood Place, Killamarsh, was sentenced to three years in a young offenders’ institution at Derby Crown Court on Tuesday after admitting two counts of unlawful wounding and for having a knife in public.
The judge, Andrew Hamilton, said: “I’d like to commend both Mr Clack and Mr Froggatt for their public-spirited actions.
“Mr Clack received horrible injuries and Mr Froggatt – who went to assist his friend – received even more horrifying injuries.
“Shutt was so drunk, he didn’t know what he was doing. He could have killed them.”
Prosecutor Mark Van de Zwart told the court the two men had been at The Crown on May 26 when Mr Clack saw three youths kicking and shaking a parked car.
He went outside to ask them to stop when Shutt pulled out the knife and gashed a deep four-inch cut in his left forearm.
Mr Froggatt then came outside and was able to restrain Shutt, who slashed him on his right arm and nose and sliced through the tendons in his left wrist. He now has no feeling down the side of his hand.
Shutt said in an initial police interview that it was either Mr Clack or Mr Froggatt who introduced the knife, but later admitted that it was him. He claimed to have found it while out on the evening of the assault.
Defending, Dermot Hughes said: “To his immense credit, he admitted that this was a shameful episode.
“He was not walking the streets threatening to use the knife, but I accept that what happened was a massive over-reaction.”
Mr Clack, of Morton Mount, Halfway, Sheffield, said: “I’m happy he’s got three years. I hope that his sentence acts as a deterrent to others.”
Mr Froggatt of Springwell Grove, Beighton, said: “I would do the same again.”
Mr Hamilton also awarded Mr Clack and Mr Froggatt £250 each as a reward.
l Another youth is to appear before Chesterfield magistrates on November 7 charged with two counts of actual bodily harm.
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