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Samurai sword lout jailed again
Paul Craig Bentham
A NOTORIOUS Wigan thug has been jailed indefinitely for the second time for a bungled robbery bid.
A court heard that Paul Bentham had only been released from jail two months earlier after receiving another limitless sentence for a Samurai sword attack on Hindley teenager Mark Stafford in 2005.
The robbery was foiled by a suspicious assistant at the Greyhound service station, Warrington Road, Leigh, who saw three masked men in an Audi parked by a security van delivering ATM cash.
She noticed one outside the car holding a machete. She told the guard in the van who radioed his colleague in the cash machine pod and they both secured themselves.
By the time police arrived the gang had fled but their stolen Audi crashed at speed soon after on Timperley Lane.
Liverpool Crown Court heard that the car, driven by Bentham, had narrowly missed Judith Jones who was driving a BMW Mini.
She reversed back to check on the occupants but a masked Bentham ran towards her wielding a baseball bat.
After threatening her the 25-year-old dragged her out and commandeered the vehicle which was used for the gang to escape, said Karen Brooks, prosecuting.
PC Sailesh Patel was driving a police car when he saw the Mini heading towards him at speed on the wrong side of Warrington Road. He gave chase into Breaston Avenue relaying the registration number to colleagues. It stopped and he pulled up alongside it.
“As he was about to get out the front passenger door of the mini flew open and two men dressed in black jumped out,” said Mrs Brooks.
“They were wearing balaclavas and were both holding machetes in the air. They came straight for the police car and started to attack the windows with the machetes.”
The driver’s window smashed covering PC Patel in glass but he managed to get the car in gear and drove off a short distance.
He saw the three men running away and helped by passers by he chased Bentham climbing over fences and through gardens and caught him hiding in shrubbery. The officer later went to hospital with a sore eye and glass fragments were removed.
Bentham, of Bridgewater Street, Hindley, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to rob. The court heard he has numerous previous convictions.
Judge Henry Globe, QC, the Recorder of Liverpool, imposed an indeterminate sentence for public protection and ordered him to serve a minimum of three years.
He pointed out he might be kept inside for much longer and if and when he was released he will be on licence.
He had been ordered to serve a minimum of two years when he received the last indeterminate sentence but had actually served almost five years before the Parole Board thought it was safe to release him.
Daniel Travers, defending, said that Bentham had not been the ring leader and had pleaded guilty.
The court heard that another man is set to face trial for robbery next year while the third suspect remains at large.
Mr Travers said that Bentham had only become involved at the last minute because he could drive.
Mr Stafford, who was left scarred for life by Bentham five years ago, today declined to comment on his tormentor’s second indeterminate sentence.
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Weather for Wigan
Saturday 26 May 2012
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Temperature: 10 C to 23 C
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