Brick Wall
On the 19th November 2005 Lee Orchard, 27 years of age, decided to do a bit of seasonal bag-snatching to supplement his income for the festive period. His chosen venue was the middle of the city of Gloucester in England. It’s the perfect time to do it and sleepy Gloucester is the perfect place. People are distracted, heavily laden and there are plenty of naive easy targets in town for the Christmas shop! Anxious to get his first “grab” under his belt, Mr Orchard selected his target, ran up behind the unfortunate lady, snatched her bag and kept running, checking over his shoulder as he went to see if anyone was following. He ran straight into a brick wall. He was knocked unconscious by the impact and police arrived minutes later to scrape him off the tarmac. He was taken to hospital, treated for concussion then immediately arrested for robbery. Appearing in the city Crown Court, he pleaded guilty to the offence, though acknowledged he could not remember the actual incident (surprise, surprise). He will be sentenced in early January 2006, however the presiding Judge left Mr Orchard in little doubt he should make the most of this Christmas at home as he was heading for a substantial prison sentence in the New Year.


