VIDEO: Elite Royal Marines jailed for "sickening" attack caught on CCTV
TWO elite Royal Marines have been jailed for a "sickening" assault in the city's clubland.
A court heard how Plymouth-based Marines Brendon Agnew and Benjamin Allsop-Timmins chased their victim 'like hounds after a fox' before throwing him to the ground, punching him in the head and body and then kicking him.
The whole horrific episode was captured on CCTV.
Marines Agnew and Allsop-Timmins are today in prison and face the prospect of being thrown out of the Marines on release.
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The judge, Recorder Stephen Parish, said he was in no doubt that their victim, Mark Webber, would never forget the attack, which he described as "sickening violence".
Recorder Parish added that it would be no consolation to him if the men received lenient sentences because they were Royal Marines.
He said: "I would be failing in my duty to protect victims in general if I did not pass custodial sentences."
Both had admitted assault causing actual bodily harm on January 27 last year.
Prosecutor Alastair Verheijen said that following a confrontation in C103, Mr Webber left the club with a friend, but was attacked by the marines, who chased and attacked him again once he had escaped.
He was left lying unconscious in the road, and was taken to hospital, where he was found to have suffered minor injuries including a black eye, cuts and abrasions.
Six months later, Mr Webber said he felt too vulnerable to go out alone, and at one stage had been too afraid to leave his house to buy food.
Emma Birt, for Allsop-Timmins, said he had completed an extremely tough nine-month training course in the Marine Commandos just 10 days before the attack, and this had been his first outing since then.
Despite being arrested and charged, he had excelled in his next course, finishing the top reconnaissance student in the UK.
Miss Birt said his recent training alone had cost the UK taxpayer £125,000, but sending him to prison would cost thousands more and his military career would be over.
Jason Beal, for Agnew, said that last August he had been sent to Afghanistan as a battle casualty replacement.
He had been involved in a fire-fight in Helmand Province, where his commanding officer described him as "composed and professional".
He hoped to become a physical training instructor and was now a credit to the Royal Marines.
But Recorder Parish jailed Agnew, aged 21 and of Bickleigh Barracks, Plymouth, and Allsop-Timmins, aged 25 and of Solihull, West Midlands, for six months each.
He told them: "You chased him like hounds after a fox, threw him to the ground, punched him to the head and body and both kicked him.
"You left him lying immobile in the street - for all you knew, he could have been dead.
"One has to ask the question whether this type of people should be in the Royal Marines at all; should people like you be keeping the peace in Afghanistan?"
Outside the court, Det Con Helen Batten said releasing CCTV footage of the attack to The Herald had generated a public response and helped to bring the men to justice.
Mark Webber's mother, who was present at the sentencing, said: "As a family, we are devastated that this has happened, and we hope that when these young men become fathers it doesn't happen to them."
A spokeswoman for the MoD said: "All those who are found to fall short of the Navy's high standards or who are found to have committed an offence under the Armed Forces Act are dealt with administratively (up to and including discharge) or through the discipline process, as appropriate."
Comments
by Royal_GWA
Tuesday, July 31 2012, 7:01PM
“I don't agree with what these two lads did however i know them both and they are both good lads, the fact that they made a bad judgement call needs to be dealt with but losing their jobs and a jail sentence is not the answer.
For all you characters out there that sit behind your computer screen and **** these lads off, i put it to you like this. Have any of you ever been to war? (And i don't mean camp bastion, everybody has their part in the big machine which if fair enough but bastion is not war) Have you ever experienced what it's like to stand shoulder to shoulder with a brother while someone is trying to kill you and experienced what it's like to have to kill them first in order to save your brothers and your own life? If your answer to that question is no then wind your neck in because you have no opinion here in this blog. The world is not a nice place and the top and bottom line is, the dogs of war have to come out to play somewhere, unfortunately sometime its in the wrong place.
"A Royal Marine should be kept caged and only released in times of war"
Margaret Thatcher
None of the public knows what this scumbag Mark Webber did before the incident or his friends for that matter **HINT HINT**. It doesn't make what happened acceptable however sponges like him are the main reason this country has gone so downhill, you only have to look at this guy's Facebook or any other social networking site to see he is a complete waste of oxygen. Do you really think he goes home and shivers in his room, does he heck! He goes home laughs in the public's face and says thank you very much Royal, nice bit of compensation, won't work for 2 years then will claim compensation for something else (While also being on the doll i might add).
Why do the majority public not see this? He's Laughing at us. But yet you get people like The British Armed Forces who fight for QUEEN AND COUNTRY and get paid pittance. I leave you on this thought, where should the compensation go? To lads and lasses serving the country that are away for 6 months at a time or this benefit grabbing misfit? OUT!”
by bootneck111
Wednesday, July 18 2012, 1:19PM
“Complete animals, you should try working alongside them!”
by FreoDocker
Sunday, July 08 2012, 7:52AM
“I have a lot of respect for the Royal Marines however there 2 thugs should be left to rot and kicked out of the Navy for what they did, and as for coming back at the end when the guys was out hitting him again and then aiming a stamp in his groin well cheap shot doesnt do it justice....Low life maniacs.”
by niugnepyzarc
Sunday, July 08 2012, 4:05AM
“yeah and then a packet of danepak flew through the sky mate.......really is that the best story you could invent?”
by Bob_Wickerman
Sunday, July 08 2012, 4:00AM
“Here's something else that'll tickle yer mate- When the dealer took the stand he launched into a speech defending himself saying stuff like- "I'm a reformed character, i'm a married family man respected in the area etc" and his own solicitor had to stop him and remind him that it wasn't him who was on trial this time!
The plonker had been on trial as the accused so many times in his past that he automatically launched into his defence speech, it was like a Monty Python sketch..:)”
by niugnepyzarc
Sunday, July 08 2012, 3:19AM
“yeah bob every guilty man is perfectly innocent.....or so they all say.
Although knowing your usual rhetoric on here I wouldnt be suprised if said case only happened in your own delluded mind anyway.”
by Bob_Wickerman
Sunday, July 08 2012, 1:59AM
“Mate, my vigilante case ran to 7 separate court appearances over 8 months and i learnt a helluva lot about how the judicial system works in that time.
As I mentioned, my solicitor wanted me to plead guilty from the start but I said no because I preferred fighting it out every step of the way, which i did.
That forced him to defend me and he did a reasonable job, unearthing the fact that the black guy who brought the 'harassment' charge against me was a proven drug dealer with a past record for GBH against somebody in the past.
But the wimpy pol-correct magistrates and police took his side against mine, it's a funny old world..
Hey want a laugh?-- the dealer never turned up for my first court appearance, maybe he'd decide not to press charges, but the police sent a car to bring him from his home to the court to testify against me, you couldn't make it up!”
by niugnepyzarc
Sunday, July 08 2012, 12:29AM
“bob you mean what they claim he said (but apprently couldnt find any witnesses in a club full of people to back up there story enough to plead not guilty....hmmm)”
by Bob_Wickerman
Saturday, July 07 2012, 11:52PM
“The Marines were guilty, no doubt about that because the film is all over youtube, but what sticks in my craw is that they seemingly weren't given a chance to tell their side of it, such as what the bloke did in the club to provoke them.
If the court had been told that, it might have reduced their sentence.”
by niugnepyzarc
Saturday, July 07 2012, 11:37PM
“more to the point why are you dragging this story up again over a week after the last post? have you been seething about it all that time? thats rather amusing :P”