Debtor pulls knife on EA gets 5 years

[mikeymack2002]

"A dad who brandished a two-foot hunting knife at bailiffs who were trying to repossess his car has been jailed.

Nathan Watson, 27, had already put his children in the back of the Volkswagen Golf in a bit to stop the debt collectors towing the vehicle away."

 

 

For more on this story please read here http://www.lep.co.uk/news/local/dad-brandished-knife-at-bailiffs-1-7407621

[renegadeimp]

Should have been a LOT longer than 5 years imho . Even though people hate bailiffs, there is absolutely no need at all for this type of behaviour.

[mikeymack2002]

This sort of behaviour is all to often what happens with the EA and debtors nowadays, yes it is wrong and where this is found to be this serious then the full weight of the Courts must be used, more for a deterrent and for punishment too. I wish people would be more civil and talk but that seems to be a thing of the past, more like attack now and pay later seems to be the norm....

[lookinforinfo]

Reading the article it would appear that he was only given 14 months for the knife threat-the rest of the five years was for other offences . I

don't know if the guy was a thoroughly bad lot before he got into debt or whether the desperation of his plight drove him to break the law. It should though perhaps be a salutary lesson to

bailiffs not to threaten someone, especially unlawfully threatening to remove children from a car, as it may have lead to a lighter sentence for the offence as well as putting themselves at

unnecessary risk.

[renegadeimp]

He had a 2 foot hunting knife readily available. That says a lot. Plus he was willing to put his children in harms way.

[daverules]

Don't condone the violence but maybe the bailliff should have just called the police and not threaten to put hands on the children to drag them from out of the car (if indeed this is what was said by the bailliff) I don't beleive the balliff has any right to put their hands on minors.

 

Easy to say what the supposed debtor should do or not do but the baillif's have to take some responsibilaty as they know they should have just called the police to ensure everyones saftey.

[caledfwlch]

If someone threatened to assault my kids, like the Bailiff's did here, then I too would go Rambo, should they actually touch them, but not with a knife, just the good old Mark 1 Fisticuffs, that come as standard issue on the Human 1.0 Model. Of course, I am a decent human being and law abiding citizen, so I would have never, ever put any friend or family, never mind my own children into harms way in the first place, and certainly would not have tried to use them as a "weapon" to stop a repo.

 

We have no way of knowing if all the crimes were committed due to being in debt, but frankly, the evidence shown and the crimes he has been found guilty of are not the actions of someone feeling desperate due to debt, they are the actions of a habitual criminal, who is also fond of using violence. Grabbing money from the till at work, or on the spur of the moment shoplifting are what people do in that sort of situation, not planning and carrying out motorbike thefts from garages and robberies with violence.

 

And as pointed out, nobody normal, not even someone stressed out from debts walks around with a 2 foot knife. I personally think the custodial sentences for possession of a knife, never mind threatening with or using one, should have a minimum tariff of 8 years. the normal action of someone stressed from debt is also not to turn into a violent partner and wage a campaign of domestic abuse against their partner.

 

The Bailiff's were a bit stupid too making threats against the kids, what if the guy wasn't a violent criminal who pulled out a knife, but instead a normal bloke, they did as threatened and then find the Old Bill knocking on their door later that night, because the kids have been coached to say "that nasty bayleef kept touching me on my winkie..." Threatening to assault kids is never the way to calm a situation down!

[Bailiff Advice]

Reading the article it would appear that he was only given 14 months for the knife threat-the rest of the five years was for other offences . I

don't know if the guy was a thoroughly bad lot before he got into debt or whether the desperation of his plight drove him to break the law.

 

The prison sentence is for various different criminal acts.

 

It is noteworthy the he also failed to attend court when ordered to and the police issued a public notice and mug shot on their website appealing for people to contact them if they knew the defendant. Once again, there is more behind this story than meets the eye.