Alan Barnes mugging: attacker gets four years
Drug addict Richard Gatiss is jailed for four years for his attack on disabled pensioner Alan Barnes, who received £330,000 from a charity fundraising appeal set up by well-wisher Katie Cutler.
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Gatiss, who had admitted assault with intent to rob at an earlier hearing, was jailed by Newcastle crown court.
The 25-year-old from Gateshead had pushed Mr Barnes over as he put out his bins in January, breaking his collar bone. Gatiss had been desperate for money to buy legal highs.
In a letter read out in court, his father Karl said Gatiss had been brought up to “help, not to hurt, people”, and had been a kind-hearted boy who loved the outdoors, but when he started to use drugs, “the likeable lad we had known slowly drifted away from us”.
Following the attack on the 67-year-old, local beautician Katie Cutler set up an online fundraising page, initially with the aim of raising £500 to pay for curtains in Mr Barnes’s new home. But the level of public outrage at the assault on a disabled man who is only 4 foot 6 inches tall, meant the page went viral.
Out of all this something really positive has happened Alan Barnes’ brother-in-law
Donations poured in, and when they topped £330,000, Mr Barnes’s family had the appeal stopped.
Charitable Foundation
Following this success, Ms Cutler has decided to launch a foundation with the aim of raising £1m by September 2015. She is hoping that the public will continue to donate to the Katie Cutler Foundation, and Mr Barnes has agreed to work as an ambassador to the foundation.
His brother-in-law Paul Yore said that he was delighted that Mr Barnes had got the chance to fulfil his ambition to do charity work, as well as being on the point of moving into a new home: “It was a horrible thing that happened, but out of all this something really positive has happened.”
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Disabled pensioner recovering after attacker jailed
Drug addict Richard Gatiss has been jailed for four years for his attack on disabled pensioner Alan Barnes.Mr Barnes received £330,000 from an online charity fundraising appeal set up by well-wisher Katie Cutler.Read more – http://bit.ly/1y31UEC
Posted by Channel 4 News on Thursday, April 2, 2015