Aggressive driver on the road who killed old man in ‘list of carnage’ lasting 5 hours jailed | UK News

A drunk driver on the road who killed a 75-year-old man and threatened to set fire to another driver’s car in a five-hour “catalogue of carnage” has been jailed.

Cocaine user James Gill, 39, shattered Neil Robinson’s skull in a random and unprovoked attack after accusing him of “going the wrong way” last December.

Nottingham Crown Court was told Mr Robinson had died in hospital six days after being pushed through an electrician training course by Gill, who was on his lunch break. He broke a bone when his head hit the ground.

Gill, of Station Road, Arksey, Doncaster, South Yorkshire, was released on bail at the time of the murder, for punching two policemen outside a Sheffield bar five days earlier.

Sarah Knight, prosecuting the case, said Gill was driving to Nottingham from Doncaster on December 16 and was drinking from an ethanol bottle at training while “constantly talking about violence and self-grow”.

After Gill attacked her grandfather, she said, he “started a violent and aggressive rampage”.

He stole a bottle of vodka from a nearby supermarket and returned to the training course, where he was told to leave after still being “angry and disruptive”.

He was next seen in the Toton area of ​​Nottinghamshire, where he threw a bottle out the window of his car, and it hit the wall.

After a female driver asked him to pick up his trash, in court Gill replied: “I know littering is wrong but so is arson, and I’m happy to set your car on fire.”

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A 68-year-old man was then dragged from his vehicle and repeatedly punched in the face after he got into an argument with Gill.

Gill pleaded guilty to manslaughter, four counts of assaulting an emergency worker, assault sometimes causing actual bodily harm, drunk driving, criminal damage, two counts of theft and doing business without pay. money.

He has multiple convictions since 2009, including one for robbery in 2012.

The court said he made no comment to police following his final arrest – which saw two more officers attacked – in the Doncaster area, following a collision that left two The female driver was not seriously injured.

‘Innocent death’

In a victim impact statement in court, Mr. Robinson’s son, Benjamin Robinson, said: “I will never forget when my father’s death really hit me. It happened at night. Christmas, which is two days after he passed away in the hospital.

“I finally got up the courage to go to his apartment. It was like he just stepped out for coffee, which is exactly what he did.

“All the signs of a living life, just waiting for him to come back and pick up where he left off. What really caught my attention were the piles of presents on the dining table, the unopened cards waiting for him. opened, including that of his grandchildren.”

The university lecturer added: “I still see his death as meaningless. I really can’t understand the fact that he’s no longer here.”

After serving a 10-year and nine-month prison sentence on Friday, Judge Stuart Rafferty QC told Gill: “I hope that, like the rest of you when you hear this, you will be appalled at who you are. .

“Through your own alcohol and drug abuse, you have made yourself a threat.”

Fingers removed

Noting that one of Gill’s fingers was severed to “execute” a drug debt nine months before Mr Robinson’s death, the judge added: “Even that didn’t stop him from drinking and using drug.”

The judge said he believed Gill had a “chemically induced” personality disorder in a “catalogue of carnage” on December 16.

“Mr Robinson is a 75-year-old, frail, slender man,” the judge added. “He did nothing but try to cross the street.

“For whatever reason, you were annoyed with him being on the road. You don’t have to stop, you can simply drive away.

“You went up against him, definitely taller than him because you have the others in this case. You shoved him into the chest with such force that it bruised and pushed him backwards.”

The judge told Gill: “Your attitude that day was one of ‘me against the world’.

“It’s no exaggeration to describe you that day as a lethal weapon.”

Gill served two-thirds of his sentence in custody, and was banned from driving for a period of five years after his release.