Ben – Attempted armed robbery. Sentenced to 4 years

Ben was convicted of attempted armed robbery of Jack Nyman in March of 2007 and sentenced to 4 years even though he had No previous convictions.

Ben had been out with his work colleagues and was walking home with his girlfriend after getting off the bus.   Along the way they bought a portion of chips, they were then stopped by a police car and asked if they knew anything about a robbery having said No the police left them to continue down the road. Ben and his girlfriend continued strolling down the road, the police then returned and promptly arrested Ben after pushing him up against the window of the police car.

Unknown to Ben the victim had been in the police car so when asked to attend an ID parade he happily agreed. The victim stated the robber had a knife, the dog unit was called and a full search of the area was made, NO knife was found.

Ben’s girlfriend has shoulder length brown hair, but the victim stated the girl with the robber had short blond hair, she was supposed to have been present during the robbery but was described by the police as a victim in the police paperwork instead of witness/suspect, and her statement wasn’t taken until weeks later.  Ben’s girlfriend was his Defence witness at the trial, stating he robbed no one.

The victim stated the assailant searched him and folded the knife over using his right hand whilst holding chips in his left hand! As a LEFT HANDED person he would not have been able to hold a knife in his right hand and been able to manoeuvre it as claimed by the victim. The jury was not offered any evidence to show he was left handed. The victim claimed to have been previously mugged in the exact same spot before no details of this were ever obtained or investigated.

Since Ben’s conviction 4 new witnesses have come forward including 2 senior managers from work to demonstrate that Ben would not have had time to commit this crime! Timings were never looked at by his legal team.