KIDDERMINSTER WOMAN JAILED FOR 'VICIOUS' ATTACK ON DISABLED MAN
TWO young women, one of them from Kidderminster, who subjected a disabled man to a “prolonged vicious assault” which left him with life-changing injuries have each been jailed for four and a half years.Victim Joel Webb, 43, suffered a personality change as a result of the eight-minute beating and is now a “lost soul”, according to one of his close friends.
He suffered a fractured skull, fractured ear canal, six broken ribs and two fractured vertebrae.
Gormley and Ramsey, had been drinking with vulnerable Mr Webb and were walking home when they suddenly unleashed the violence in Pitt Street, Gloucester.
The only explanation offered by either of the women for their kicking and beating of Mr Webb came from Ramsey, who told police he had been “gobbing off” at her so she knocked him to the ground, Gloucester Crown Court court was told yesterday.
Derek Ryder, prosecuting, said Mr Webb already had difficulties before the incident because he had been badly injured in a road crash 15 years ago and had a metal plate in his skull.
The court was told both women had been drinking heavily that night and had little recollection of the violence.
Gormley and Ramsey both pleaded guilty to causing grievous bodily harm with intent to Mr Webb on July 17.
Jailing them, Judge William Hart said: "What I read about each of you leads me to believe that, ordinarily, you are responsible , sensible young women.
"I suspect if you had been at the scene of this crime when sober on the night in question and had watched two other young women doing what you did to Mr Webb you would have been horrified by what you saw.
If you had gone with him to hospital and seen the extent of his injuries and the effect on his personality you would have said to yourselves that the perpetrators deserved to go to prison for a very long time." The judge said he could not begin to imagine what led Ramsey to fell Mr Webb in the street and Gormley to unleash “really quite dreadful violence against him”.
He added: "Mr Webb suffered life-changing and, indeed, life-threatening injuries.
The effect of those injuries has been dramatic in terms of his quality of life and his personality.
He was already a man with real problems and vulnerability but, with limitations, he led a contented, albeit limited life.
His friend now refers to him as a lost soul because of what you did." Following the hearing, Det Chief Insp Rachel Williams, of Gloucester CID, said: "The CCTV from this case was one of the most disturbing I have seen.
These women launched a totally unprovoked and vicious attack on a vulnerable man who was not able to defend himself."
