Man jailed for four years for assault on disabled pensioner Alan Barnes
Richard Gatiss pushed 4ft 6in Barnes to the floor, breaking his collar bone, during attempted robbery prompting wellwishers to raise £330,000
A man has been jailed for four years for assaulting the disabled pensioner Alan Barnes during an attempted robbery.
Richard Gatiss, 25, pushed Barnes, 67, to the floor, breaking his collar bone, while trying to get money for legal highs.
People moved by his plight raised £330,000 for Barnes, who is 4ft 6in and visually impaired, within days of the attack in January.
Gatiss was sentenced at Newcastle crown court after previously admitting assault with intent to rob. The judge Paul Sloan QC said: “I have no doubt he was picked on by you because of his vulnerability.
“It was on any view a despicable offence.”
Gatiss, from Gateshead, Tyne and Wear, was caught after police retrieved DNA evidence from Barnes’s jacket pocket.
He ran off empty-handed from the mugging when Barnes shouted for help.
While on remand, Gatiss was kept in segregation for his own safety due to the strong feelings his attack caused even among convicted criminals.
Reports of the assault led Katie Cutler, 21, a beautician, to set up a fund for Alan after he said he was too scared to return to his home in Gateshead, which initially aimed to raise £500.
The appeal went viral, however, with many members of the public expressing their disgust at the attack on a vulnerable man.
Barnes has lived with disabilities all his life after his mother contracted rubella when she was pregnant.
He has said he will buy a new house with the money and plans to set up a foundation with Cutler with the aim of raising £1m for good causes.
Plucked from the Guardian uk
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