Teacher uses firearm on vandals....
Discussion
From BBC.co.uk
Pellet gun teacher sent to prison
Linda Walker claimed the youths had vandalised her home
A special needs teacher who fired a pellet gun at youths she claimed had vandalised her house has been jailed for six months.
Linda Walker, 48, was "ranting and raving like a lunatic" when she fired the gun, a court had heard.
Walker, of Hollyhouse Drive, Urmston, Gtr Manchester, was convicted of affray and possessing a firearm with intent to cause fear or violence.
She said she was under stress at the time of the incident on 14 August 2004.
Walker claimed a campaign of vandalism by "yobbos" had driven her to fire the gun at the feet of a gang of teenagers she confronted near her home.
The teacher of children with behavioural difficulties at New Park School, Salford, had kept the gun in her underwear drawer for four months since her shed was burgled.
I've got an air rifle and a pistol and I'm going to shoot the vandals that come around here
Linda Walker
She had also received nuisance phone calls abusing her 17-year-old son James while her other son Craig's car had been vandalised.
Fish had been stolen from her pond and her garden ornaments were thrown over a wall, her trial heard.
The final straw came when a washing-up liquid bottle full of water was emptied over her son's car, she said.
She went outside to confront the youths and, in a phone call to police, said: "I'm going over to that field over the road, I've got an air rifle and a pistol and I'm going to shoot the vandals that come around here."
Walker fired the pistol at the road near the feet of Robert McKiernan, 18.
Family 'under attack'
Walker was sentenced at Manchester's Minshull St Crown Court on Tuesday to six months for possessing the firearm and one month for affray. The sentences will run concurrently.
Her 56-year-old partner, John Cavanagh, was cleared of affray last month.
Walker's defence barrister, Farrhat Ashad, said she admitted she had acted in a "very unfortunate" manner but had been under stress through work at the time.
"She thought her family, which was supposed to be safe, was being attacked," she added.
Mrs Walker over stepped the line and attacked a group in an unprovoked, disproportionate manner
Det Sgt Frank Hayley, GMP
Her employer, Salford City Council, said she was suspended from her teaching job and would now face disciplinary action.
Greater Manchester Police (GMP) said there was no "particular problem" with anti-social behaviour in the Urmston area and insisted there was "no evidence" to suggest the Walkers had been targeted for abuse by youths.
"While we support homeowners protecting themselves in line with the recent ACPO and CPS guidelines, Mrs Walker overstepped the line and attacked a group in an unprovoked, disproportionate manner," said Det Sgt Frank Hayley, of Trafford CID.
"The use of a firearm was an extreme reaction and Greater Manchester Police will not tolerate the use of such a weapon on the street, irrespective of the offender's justification."
UNPROVOKED?!?!
Dont know what to say on this one. Personally I am going to quit my job and become a scroat and a chav as its easy money and I can pretty much do what I want with no fear of reprisal
Pellet gun teacher sent to prison
Linda Walker claimed the youths had vandalised her home
A special needs teacher who fired a pellet gun at youths she claimed had vandalised her house has been jailed for six months.
Linda Walker, 48, was "ranting and raving like a lunatic" when she fired the gun, a court had heard.
Walker, of Hollyhouse Drive, Urmston, Gtr Manchester, was convicted of affray and possessing a firearm with intent to cause fear or violence.
She said she was under stress at the time of the incident on 14 August 2004.
Walker claimed a campaign of vandalism by "yobbos" had driven her to fire the gun at the feet of a gang of teenagers she confronted near her home.
The teacher of children with behavioural difficulties at New Park School, Salford, had kept the gun in her underwear drawer for four months since her shed was burgled.
I've got an air rifle and a pistol and I'm going to shoot the vandals that come around here
Linda Walker
She had also received nuisance phone calls abusing her 17-year-old son James while her other son Craig's car had been vandalised.
Fish had been stolen from her pond and her garden ornaments were thrown over a wall, her trial heard.
The final straw came when a washing-up liquid bottle full of water was emptied over her son's car, she said.
She went outside to confront the youths and, in a phone call to police, said: "I'm going over to that field over the road, I've got an air rifle and a pistol and I'm going to shoot the vandals that come around here."
Walker fired the pistol at the road near the feet of Robert McKiernan, 18.
Family 'under attack'
Walker was sentenced at Manchester's Minshull St Crown Court on Tuesday to six months for possessing the firearm and one month for affray. The sentences will run concurrently.
Her 56-year-old partner, John Cavanagh, was cleared of affray last month.
Walker's defence barrister, Farrhat Ashad, said she admitted she had acted in a "very unfortunate" manner but had been under stress through work at the time.
"She thought her family, which was supposed to be safe, was being attacked," she added.
Mrs Walker over stepped the line and attacked a group in an unprovoked, disproportionate manner
Det Sgt Frank Hayley, GMP
Her employer, Salford City Council, said she was suspended from her teaching job and would now face disciplinary action.
Greater Manchester Police (GMP) said there was no "particular problem" with anti-social behaviour in the Urmston area and insisted there was "no evidence" to suggest the Walkers had been targeted for abuse by youths.
"While we support homeowners protecting themselves in line with the recent ACPO and CPS guidelines, Mrs Walker overstepped the line and attacked a group in an unprovoked, disproportionate manner," said Det Sgt Frank Hayley, of Trafford CID.
"The use of a firearm was an extreme reaction and Greater Manchester Police will not tolerate the use of such a weapon on the street, irrespective of the offender's justification."
GMP said:
While we support homeowners protecting themselves in line with the recent ACPO and CPS guidelines, Mrs Walker overstepped the line and attacked a group in an unprovoked, disproportionate manner
UNPROVOKED?!?!
Dont know what to say on this one. Personally I am going to quit my job and become a scroat and a chav as its easy money and I can pretty much do what I want with no fear of reprisal
Wait wait... they should jail the gun, not the teacher! Remember people, guns kill, people don't
In reality, though, is this what the world has come to? One cannot even use a nonlethal weapon to defend their property? Maybe she should have thrown an an axe at them... Would that have been more legal?
In reality, though, is this what the world has come to? One cannot even use a nonlethal weapon to defend their property? Maybe she should have thrown an an axe at them... Would that have been more legal?
This is the state of play in BLiar's dreamworld. If you drive a car or defend your family or your property, you're a criminal. If you're a criminal, you're a victim of society. If you're a chav and do stuff like this you get a community punishment you'll never finish, if you're middle class they jail you. We vote them in again, we'll get more of the same.
This case has desperation written all over it. This is our reality, our society. The government and their police have effectively lost the battle on the streets of this country. Her cries for help were simply ignored, and now society has to lose a bona-fide contributor to a better world. her liberty has been sacrificed on the high alter of labour's politicaly correct 'justice for all' or 'Justice for none' dogma. This is the umpteenth example of a Government that has its agenda elsewhere, anywhere in fact, but home...
aye... "tough on crime, tough on the causes of crime" - but only if it's an easy crime to trace, easy to convict, easy to tick off... meanwhile the rampaging ar5eholes who plague honest hardworking folk, are left to run riot.
We want our town centres, our neighbourhoods, our lives back from these yobs and nobody does a thing about it.
Hang on - who are these people most likely to vote for? Aaaahhhh....
We want our town centres, our neighbourhoods, our lives back from these yobs and nobody does a thing about it.
Hang on - who are these people most likely to vote for? Aaaahhhh....
lanciachris said:
Should have shot it actually at them.
I know from a reliable source that shooting a jumped up prat with an airgun at say 6ft range will result in nothing more than a yelp of pain, a bruise and the said gimps running away never to cause trouble again in the area at least.
You've got to be kidding!
lanciachris said:
Should have shot it actually at them.
I know from a reliable source that shooting a jumped up prat with an airgun at say 6ft range will result in nothing more than a yelp of pain, a bruise and the said gimps running away never to cause trouble again in the area at least.
Sorry m8, but i need to strongly disagree on this.
I own a high power air rifle of which will provide proof to the contary to your statement, it's more than capable of bursting through car body panels @ 20 yards. At 6ft it'll KILL !!!!
They are NOT toys and comments such as yours have no place m8.
I sympathise with the lady whole heartedly, her biggest mistake was telling the operator what she was going to do, but sometimes thats the only way to ensure a police turn out within the same week. An 18 y/o shouldn't be allowed to cause distress and upset in the first place, just goes to show how our justice system is crumbling into decay.
When I were a lad, (not too long ago either!) the village bobby used to give you a good whack round the head if he caught you p1$$1ng people off, nowardays they are too scared to get within 10ft of the chavs
nighthawk said:
An 18 y/o shouldn't be allowed to cause distress and upset in the first place, just goes to show how our justice system is crumbling into decay.
This has nothing to do with the justice system. It has everything to do with the parenting of those who indulge in this kind of behaviour and also the fact that everyone these days expects to be dealt with so that their personal rights are not impinged. That is a fault of the eductaion system as much as anything because whilst they teach children about their rights, they fail along with parents to teach any form of responsibility in many cases!
"I know my rights" is often quoted at me as I bundle said yobbo into the back of a waiting transit van cage!
Sorry to tell you mate. I know your rights too
! nighthawk said:
When I were a lad, (not too long ago either!) the village bobby used to give you a good whack round the head if he caught you p1$$1ng people off, nowardays they are too scared to get within 10ft of the chavs
I don't think scared is the word. I think that the Police realise that yobbo's do know their rights (or at least the main ones). CCTV is everywhere and Police discipline hearings are heard on the basis of the balance of probability.
Give me a chav (especially a drunken one) who is willing to step one toe over the line and his arse is mine!!!!
>> Edited by gone on Tuesday 29th March 19:59
nighthawk said:
Should have shot it actually at them.
I know from a reliable source that shooting a jumped up prat with an airgun at say 6ft range will result in nothing more than a yelp of pain, a bruise and the said gimps running away never to cause trouble again in the area at least.
Sorry m8, but i need to strongly disagree on this.
I own a high power air rifle of which will provide proof to the contary to your statement, it's more than capable of bursting through car body panels @ 20 yards. At 6ft it'll KILL !!!!
They are NOT toys and comments such as yours have no place m8.
I'm sorry but you'd be bloody lucky/unlucky (depending on what your intentions are) to kill someone with an air rifle in this country, let alone an air pistol. Air rifles (unless they are licenced on a Firearm Certificate) are restricted to a low 12ft-lbs of energy at the muzzle, air pistols to a piddling 6ft-lbs (For comparison the popular but not particularly powerful 9mm Parabellum (or Luger) typically produces around 350ft-lbs). You are correct in your statement that they are not toys but they are also far from lethal weapons; I winds me up no end that the charges refer to 'firearms' when an airgun is analogous to a firearm as a bicycle is to a motorbike. She shouldn't have done what she did, but IMHO it is OUTRAGEOUS to send her to prison. Another one to the CPS (Criminals Protection Services).
I agree you'd be unlucky to kill someone with an air rifle of legal non class 1 status, but it CAN happen.
The Home Office consider the lowest level of muzzle energy capable of inflicting a penetrating wound is one foot pound (1.35 joules), that force x12 to say the temple region at close range would be somewhere close enough, even more so if the pellet was of the pointed hunting designs.
I'd be giving her a bloody medal though instead of a custodial.
The Home Office consider the lowest level of muzzle energy capable of inflicting a penetrating wound is one foot pound (1.35 joules), that force x12 to say the temple region at close range would be somewhere close enough, even more so if the pellet was of the pointed hunting designs.
I'd be giving her a bloody medal though instead of a custodial.
I think its a bit more than outrageous to send her to prison. I think it flies in the face of the wishes of the vast majority of the taxpaying public. I think public floggings for all those involved in the prosecution are in order. I think it is disgusting that we no longer deal with criminals at all, we simply criminalise the normal person in the street to achieve a crime clear up rate. The recorder who sentenced her needs his attitude reajusting. We now appear to have arrived at a point where no correct decisions are being made. Hence
Health service - crap too many chiefs not enough indians
Education - may as well not bother kids cant read after 11000 hours of it FFS
Transport - find idiots with metal health problems and put them in charge they cannot possible be more wrong than Begg. Speed cameras kill.
Environment - Nuclear power stations are needed now so we get some pillocks to build windmills. The lake district economy depends on boaters so they ban them. They by the way are unelected tossers who need flogging too, just before we fire them and give their pension funds to the tsunami disaster.
Police - how do we manage to find so many disfuntional psycopathic misfits to become chief constables. We only have about three who seem to be from Earth, the rest are mutants from outer space.
Judiciary - Jail people who should be doing useful work for society while allowing the mentally ill to work in the judiciary. Their education was once based on Latin beatings and buggary but we really ought to have moved on.
Nobody voted for this crap nobody except a very tiny minority of morons want it. If this was America we would be forming small armed groups to take out the government. The lake district speed patrols would have been sunk and court where the teacher was sentenced would have been invaded. Quite right too these people are our employees, time we disciplined them.
Health service - crap too many chiefs not enough indians
Education - may as well not bother kids cant read after 11000 hours of it FFS
Transport - find idiots with metal health problems and put them in charge they cannot possible be more wrong than Begg. Speed cameras kill.
Environment - Nuclear power stations are needed now so we get some pillocks to build windmills. The lake district economy depends on boaters so they ban them. They by the way are unelected tossers who need flogging too, just before we fire them and give their pension funds to the tsunami disaster.
Police - how do we manage to find so many disfuntional psycopathic misfits to become chief constables. We only have about three who seem to be from Earth, the rest are mutants from outer space.
Judiciary - Jail people who should be doing useful work for society while allowing the mentally ill to work in the judiciary. Their education was once based on Latin beatings and buggary but we really ought to have moved on.
Nobody voted for this crap nobody except a very tiny minority of morons want it. If this was America we would be forming small armed groups to take out the government. The lake district speed patrols would have been sunk and court where the teacher was sentenced would have been invaded. Quite right too these people are our employees, time we disciplined them.
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