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• A Middlesbrough man who gave himself up to police
Page 13
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after fracturing a lorry driver's skull with a pick-axe handle had his sentence cut from five years to four-and-a-half by the Criminal Appeal Court.
Derick Christopher Tapping, 20, of Steele Crescent, South Bank, was sentenced in August at Teesside Crown Court after pleading guilty to causing grievous bodily harm with intent to George Atkins.
Mr Justice Keens said: The five-year sentence did not take adequate account of exceptional mitigating circumstances and we reduce it to four-and-a-half years.
"He was of previous good character and his counsel Edward Young has stressed that Tapping voluntarily handed himself in having seen photographs of the victim in hospital after the attack."
The judge said Atkins was in his lorry cab in a truck park at about 3.30am on March 28 this year and was woken by noises from the back.
Be got out and saw two men near the back and others sitting in or loading goods into a van.
When he tried to grab a box from one man, Tapping came forward and hit his head with a pick-axe handle and Atkins fell
to the ground. He tried to ring the police but was unable to do so and got back into his cab feeling dizzy.
In the morning, another driver found him covered in blood and he was taken to hospital where he was found to have a very serious fracture of his skull, and bruises and cuts on his face.
A scan revealed a blood clot on his brain and he was operated on with some success although there was a possibility of long-term problems with headaches, drowsiness and lack of concentration for which he was still being treated four months later.
Young said of Tapping: "When he heard of the appalling injuries he gave himself up, driven by remorse and revulsion at what he had done."