Widespread anger as Telford yob Luke Mansell evades jail
A suspended jail sentence handed to an 18-year-old who attacked a pensioner with a plank of wood during a foiled burglary has been met with widespread fury – as the teenager took to Facebook to defend himself.
, and a supervision order on Tuesday after he admitted assaulting 78-year-old Arthur Ball and burglary in Ketley Town, Telford.
Afterwards, he took to Facebook to moan that he was being 'disscriminated' (sic) against because of the adverse publicity. He said: "Never felt so bad in my life."
He said he was obviously wrong for taking part in the burglary and declared his remorse. He claimed he had even offered to meet the victim face-to-face to apologise.
Readers have flooded shropshirestar.com with comments criticising the magistrates who imposed the sentence, the defence solicitor who claimed the teenager was 'scared' of going to prison and Mansell himself.
In response to the story, Sandra posted: "It is no wonder the country's in such a mess."
And Michael W asked: "Not even a restitution order for the pain inflicted or damage done. Why not?"
Brian added: "I wonder what planet these magistrates live on. Decent working people want and indeed deserve the protection of the law."
Ste said: "Well done defence team, you can be proud of yourselves. I hope you do not become a victim of crime, only to see the guilty offender laugh and walk away."
Of all the comments, only one from poster 'unknown' offered any support to Mansell, saying: "There are two sides to every story, don't forget what you read is not always the truth. Reporters have probably over exadurated (sic) this and made him look what he isn't."
Thrasher Harris and Graham Bradley called for the use of the birch in cases like this and several people called for offenders to be forced to join the Army or complete a boot camp.
One poster also criticised the sentence compared to those handed down to people guilty of crimes like looting during last year's riots. Maggiepy said: "Unbelievable. I don't know how anyone involved in this case can sleep at night. Defies common sense. A total disgrace."
Shifnal Resident added: "What an absolute disgrace. This opens the door for more crime and young thugs laughing at the justice system knowing they will probably get away with it. Wake up magistrates."
Another poster, Ben UK, said: "Why don't we all just break the law? Let's forget our morals and principles and start commiting crimes. Why not? Theres no punishment.
"No wonder crime goes up. It's pathetic, Britain is now just a push-over."
Joe added: "And the Goverment complain that too many people take the law into their own hands?"
After yesterday's coverage of the case, which attracted national attention, Mansell, of Hill Road, in Overdale, Telford, said in a Facebook post, which has since been deleted, he was a 'changed citizen'.
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