Family feud man with baseball bat has sentence cut
A man who had a baseball bat during a large-scale ‘feud’ between families has had his sentence cut by top judges.
Gareth Lee Brian Williams, from Walsall, got a three-month suspended jail term at Wolverhampton Crown Court in June.
The 35-year-old was ordered to carry out 100 hours unpaid work and a 10-day rehabilitation activity, Mr Justice Phillips told London’s Appeal Court.
Williams, of Green Rock Lane, was acquitted of two counts of having a bladed article, but convicted of having an offensive weapon – a baseball bat.
There was an ‘ongoing feud’ between several families and their associates in the Walsall area, said the appeal judge.
It involved episodes of violence and damage to a property.
Williams and his co-accused were associated with one of the families involved.
On July 20 last year, police got an anonymous call saying masked men with weapons were driving around the area.
Firearms officers spotted a Peugeot 308 being driven into a car park.
Williams and two others got out of the vehicle and were arrested, along with two others inside the car.
A baseball bat, machete, two axes and a knife were found in the vehicle.
Lawyers for Williams today argued that his sentence was wrong in principle.
This was because he had spent 331 days on electronically monitored curfew prior to being sentenced.
That was the equivalent of just short of a sentence of 11 months’ imprisonment, the court heard.
“We agree with that submission,” said Mr Justice Phillips, who was sitting with Sir Roderick Evans.
“In our judgment, that sentence was indeed inappropriate.”
Allowing the appeal, the judge quashed the suspended sentence, along with the unpaid work and rehabilitation orders.
Instead, the court imposed a three-month jail term. Due to the time he spent on curfew, Williams has already served that sentence.
