D-Day Veteran Attacked
 

Just read this article, apologies if it has been posted before.
May the sentence be a loooooonnng one.

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/201...uilder-saying/

He will spend 16 years in custody and four on licence, the judge ruled.

Quote...
"Isaacs, of no fixed address"

Says it all.

Isaacs had previously admitted aggravated burglary, causing grievous bodily harm and seven counts of fraud. He will spend 16 years in custody and four on licence, the judge ruled.
During sentencing, Judge David Ticehurst said Mr Booth was an "extraordinarily remarkable gentleman" whom Isaacs "savagely attacked with a claw hammer which you took with you for that purpose".He said: "It was a brutal and utterly senseless attack on him."

Judge Ticehurst also said Isaacs met the criteria for the extended sentence as he showed an "apparent lack of remorse or concern" for attacking Mr Booth for a "paltry" amount of money.

The court heard Isaacs, formerly from Exeter, went to Mr Booth's home on 22 November intending to obtain money as he had not eaten for days and was "starving".He initially offered to carry out repairs to the roof, but when he was turned down he repeatedly hit the 96-year-old with a hammer and left him for dead. h Isaacs denied carrying out the attack when he was arrested Isaacs used Mr Booth's bank card to buy food at a McDonald's fast-food restaurant in Bridgwater after the attack.

The court heard Mr Booth was hit six times on the head, as well as on the arms with the claw side of the tool. Between each blow Isaacs shouted "money, money, money".Mr Booth suffered a number of skull fractures, bleeds to the brain, deep wounds to both his arms and a fracture to his right hand.

Speaking after he had recovered, he said he was told one of his arm injuries showed he had hit back at his attacker."I'm saying I blame myself because I was special services and I think I really should have known how to deal with this, but I didn't."I was too old, obviously," said Mr Booth

.In a statement released after the sentencing, the veteran's family said: "On 22 November last year, a light was shone on the very best and worst of humankind, when our father was subjected to a brutal and cowardly attack inside his home."Miraculously, though left for dead, and against all odds, he survived."In the very difficult six months since, our father has shown extraordinary courage and determination as he's battled with the pain and long-term effects of the injuries."He is truly inspirational."

Det Ch Insp James Riccio, from Avon and Somerset Police, said: "It was a cowardly act and it's a miracle Mr Booth survived these horrific injuries"

Mr Booth, who joined the Royal Navy at 18, took part in one of the most secret operations of the D-Day invasion in Normandy in 1944, and talked about it in a 2013 BBC documentary.He was part of a team of submariners who submerged close to Sword Beach.On the day of the landings he and his colleagues left their craft in a fold-up canoe to shine beacons to guide the Allied landing craft safely to shore.

This was utterly despicable and I hope he serves the full sixteen years with some ex-mil prison officers to look after him!

I do, however, take huge issue with 3wheels assertion that the fact he was of no fixed abode in some way accounts for the nature of his crime.

There are myriad reasons why honest decent people find themselves without a fixed address or homeless - It happens to a disturbing number of veterans. Most of them are every bit as honest and law abiding as the rest of society - in fact, I'd say that it's my experience that most homeless people I've come across are generally more trustworthy than society at large.

OH

On a more positive note...

Just seen the victim on the BBC News. What an absolutely amazing guy!

It amazes me that the moderators do not read the article. Was the victim in the Navy or the Army? the Telegraph cannot make his mind up bar saying he was actually a Navy Submariner on an X boat at the end. I am glad the scum has gone behind bars,. Alas I can see no reason why this post has anything to do with the military side of an aviation pilots forum.

The great thing that came out of this story is that interviewed recently, Mr Booth, talking about the attack, remarked "Worse things happen at sea!". Absolutely delighted that he is not going to let what happened to him destroy the rest of his life

He gets my total admiration and my very best wishes

OvertHawk wrote: While that is true, 'Isaacs' is quite a common surname amongst Somerset travellers. So perhaps this attempted murderer is one of those who chooses not to have a fixed address?

He'll soon have one for at least the next 16 years though....

What an amazing chap Jim Booth is!

Sounds as though he was a Commando, possibly a member of the SBS, in its infancy?

I saw, somewhere, an image of him in uniform as a Lt RN (or RNR/RNVR).

"Alas I can see no reason why this post has anything to do with the military side of an aviation pilots forum. "

partly because there really isn't anywhere else on here to discuss current items of Military Interests - in the same way as there is (unbelievably) no generic Airliner thread - lots on various airlines, airports and areas but general Airliners - no

Dick. I bet you are one of those that revel in wearing your horrible blue shiny trousers in the corner of the bar on a Friday pm telling everyone that will listen, not many, about your tales of strife in SHQ. So dull.

Gijoe, harsh, I agree with AR. The Torygraph had all the information but left the best bit to the last. As someone who spent the week before D-Day sitting on the invasion beach he was indeed special forces but not in the current context that we now use SF. Remember it was Mr Booth who said he was SF.

​A friend of mine was also SF. He was an RM when RM manned one of the turrets on a warship. After his ship was sunk and survivors leave he was drafted to a new unit. It was very SF, but Ian Fleming's Naval Party 22.