What a sick joke: Four years' jail for thug who'll be out in two after he
ended a vulnerable man's life by punching him when he complained about a
cyclist on pavement

Andrew Young, 40, died in hospital after he was punched by Lewis Gill

Mr Young had become involved in an argument with Gill's friend

CCTV footage shows Mr Young falling backwards and striking his head

Gill pleaded guilty to manslaughter and was jailed for four-and-a-half
years

Mr Young's mother Pamela has described the sentence as a 'joke'

With a single, vicious and unprovoked punch, a life is tragically ended.

Andrew Young, 40, paid an appalling price for his good citizen act of
challenging a cyclist who was riding on the pavement.

The cyclist’s friend, a convicted robber, delivered the killer blow – yet
could spend just two years behind bars. Mr Young’s mother yesterday
described the sentence as an ‘absolute joke’.

This is the shocking moment Andrew Young was punched by Lewis Gill - Mr
Young died of head injuries a day later in hospital

Mr Young was attacked by Gill after the 40-year-old became involved in an
argument with his friend

Gill, 20, can be seen to walk away after looking back to see his victim
lying motionless on the ground

The shocking incident took place on a busy street in Bournemouth when Mr
Young warned Victor Ibitoye that riding on the pavement was dangerous.

When the conversation ended Lewis Gill, who was with Mr Ibitoye, punched Mr
Young, taking him by surprise.

Distressing CCTV footage shows the Asperger’s sufferer toppling back on to
the road, violently striking his head.

Gill, who has a conviction for handling stolen goods as well as robbery,
then walks away, with a glance back at his motionless victim.

Passers-by came to Mr Young’s aid but he died the following day in
hospital. His mother Pamela was at his bedside.

Mr Young, who suffered from Asperger's Syndrome, was said to be able to
speak several languages but had the social skills of a 14-year-old due to
his condition

Gill pleaded guilty to a charge of manslaughter and was jailed for
four-and-a-half years

Mr Young became involved in an argument with cyclist Victor Ibitoye after
he told him that cycling on the pavement was dangerous

Yesterday Gill, 20, pleaded guilty to a charge of manslaughter for which he
was jailed for just four years.

He was sentenced by Judge Keith Cutler, who was criticised for his handling
of the inquest into the gangster Mark Duggan, whose shooting by police
sparked the riots of 2011. Mrs Young said: ‘You can see Andrew didn’t cause
Lewis Gill any harm.

‘I wish that awful man who took my son away had pleaded not guilty so he
would have got a longer sentence. The sentence is an absolute joke.

‘I’m a committed Christian but I think that if someone takes a life they
should be prepared to forfeit their own.’

She said that too few killers served full sentences.

She said that too few killers served full sentences.

Tory MP David Davies said of Gill’s punishment: ‘That’s an outrageously
lean sentence. In two years he will be out walking the streets after taking
somebody’s life.

‘He has attacked someone unprovoked and should be properly punished. People
need to realise if you punch someone like that, and they fall backward,
they can die.’

Explaining why Gill would receive just four years, Judge Cutler told him:
‘What I have had to look at is what was in your mind at the time you threw
that punch.

You wanted to cause some injury to Mr Young. If you wanted to cause
grievous bodily harm it would have been a murder charge. You are very, very
lucky that was not in fact the outcome.’

The judge told the hearing at Salisbury Crown Court on Friday that the case
lay somewhere between murder and manslaughter.

‘I bear in mind your early guilty plea. I accept there is no pre-meditated
element and provocation does exist,’ he told Gill.

The maximum sentence for manslaughter is life, but the term can be shorter,
at the discretion of the judge. With half his sentence served on licence,
and allowing for time already served, Gill could be out of jail in under
two years.

The judge told Gill, from Sutton, Surrey, that Mr Young was no threat: ‘You
are a powerfully built young man. You must have known that [the punch] was
going to cause a significant injury and, very sadly, it did.’

Gill was also sentenced to two three-month terms to run consecutively with
the manslaughter sentence.

This was for committing the crime while on a suspended sentence for the
robbery and handling offences. In mitigation, Steven Perian said: ‘He
wishes he could turn back the clock and not react in the way he did.’

Mr Young, a former grammar school pupil, regular church-goer and speaker of
several languages, was said to have the social skills of a 14-year-old due
to his Asperger’s.

Taxi driver Simon Scott said of him: ‘Andrew was always friendly and polite
and often struck up conversations with strangers. He was gentle and
wouldn’t hurt a fly.’

His mother added: ‘He was very particular because of his Asperger’s and he
wouldn’t have liked seeing someone riding a bicycle on the pavement.’

The incident took place outside a Tesco Express in the Charminster area of
Bournemouth at 4.25pm on November 6.

<https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2567496/Pictured-Shocking-moment-doting-son-killed-single-punch-head-row-cycling-pavement-killer-jailed-just-four-half-years.html>

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Spike

On Tuesday, 28 February 2023 at 16:45:05 UTC, Spike wrote:
> What a sick joke: Four years' jail for thug who'll be out in two after he
> ended a vulnerable man's life by punching him when he complained about a
> cyclist on pavement

Should have used a car that way he could have claimed 'It was just a momentary lapse on concentration' and escaped jail.

>
> Andrew Young, 40, died in hospital after he was punched by Lewis Gill
>
> Mr Young had become involved in an argument with Gill's friend
>
> CCTV footage shows Mr Young falling backwards and striking his head

Was Mr Young wearing a helmet?

Mike Collins <cmike8828@gmail.com> wrote:
> On Tuesday, 28 February 2023 at 16:45:05 UTC, Spike wrote:
>> What a sick joke: Four years' jail for thug who'll be out in two after he
>> ended a vulnerable man's life by punching him when he complained about a
>> cyclist on pavement
>
> Should have used a car that way he could have claimed 'It was just a
> momentary lapse on concentration' and escaped jail.
>
>>
>> Andrew Young, 40, died in hospital after he was punched by Lewis Gill
>>
>> Mr Young had become involved in an argument with Gill's friend
>>
>> CCTV footage shows Mr Young falling backwards and striking his head

> Was Mr Young wearing a helmet?

The questions you’re avoiding asking are ‘Why are pavement cyclists so
hypersensitive about their lawbreaking, and why is their first response a
violent, sometimes lethal, one?’.

--
Spike

Spike <Aero.Spike@mail.invalid> wrote:
> Mike Collins <cmike8828@gmail.com> wrote:
>> On Tuesday, 28 February 2023 at 16:45:05 UTC, Spike wrote:

>>> Andrew Young, 40, died in hospital after he was punched by Lewis Gill

>>> Mr Young had become involved in an argument with Gill's friend

>>> CCTV footage shows Mr Young falling backwards and striking his head

>> Was Mr Young wearing a helmet?

> The questions you’re avoiding asking are ‘Why are pavement cyclists so
> hypersensitive about their lawbreaking, and why is their first response a
> violent, sometimes lethal, one?’.

There’s such a video in this report:

<https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/cyclist-ploughs-group-people-pavement-11276002>

--
Spike