A thug who launched a violent assault on a headmistress
when she told off his son for racial abuse walked free from court yesterday. Paul
Stratford punched and swore at Zita McCormick after she told him his
eight-year-old son Brendan would be excluded for a day. Flanked by colleagues,
the teacher told the 31-year-old to calm down. Instead he made for her,
punching her and pushing her backward.
Aggression: Paul Stratford, left, punched and forcefully shoved Zita McCormick, right, in front of shocked staff after a showdown over his eight-year-old son Brendan's behaviour
Despite the gravity of the offence, magistrates decided to
impose only a community sentence, telling Stratford to pay his victim £100. In
another astonishing case yesterday, a Romanian thief who ran a £3million
cashpoint scam with 9,000 victims also escaped jail. Leonid Rotaru was given an
18-month suspended jail sentence. Last night, an education expert said law and
order seemed to have ‘gone out of the window’. Another said Stratford, who
already had a conviction for violence, should have been jailed to deter others
from attacking teachers.
The incident took place in June after Brendan was accused
of a racial outburst against a Somali boy at Seven Fields Primary in Swindon. He
also swore at pupils and staff, in what Mrs McCormick said was his third act of
bad behaviour that week at the 222-pupil school. After calling the boy’s mother
to ask for him to be picked up at 9.30am, his father arrived and launched his
attack in the foyer. A court heard he demanded of Mrs McCormick: ‘Why have you
called my son a f****** thug?’ After being asked to calm down, he repeated:
‘You called my son a f****** thug’ and ordered the teacher not to wave her
finger at his boy. He then launched the attack that was ended only by the
intervention of the caretaker. Mrs McCormick said before the sentencing: ‘It
was very frightening but you work on adrenalin. ‘I could not let this man get
into the school.’ She revealed she has even asked parents to take anger
management classes: ‘They can’t control the anger they have. The school is
where they vent anger at public servants who are there to protect and educate
their children.’
Stratford, who was found guilty of common assault, was
given a nine-month community order by Swindon magistrates. Chairman of the
bench David Sinclair told him to pay £400 in costs and £100 in compensation to
his victim. Russell Hobby, general secretary of the National Association of
Head Teachers, said Stratford’s behaviour was totally unacceptable. ‘Sometimes
heads need to make tough decisions and they need to have society’s full support
to make such decisions for the sake of all their pupils,’ he added. ‘These
types of attacks against public servants doing their jobs should be punished
very severely.’
Prosecuted: Stratford claimed he was 'protecting' his son, who was left in tears after Mrs McCormick excluded him from Seven Fields Primary School in Swindon, pictured
Chris McGovern, a former headmaster who chairs the
Campaign for Real Education, said: ‘This assault happened in a school and that
should make the offence more serious. If schools aren’t safe then there is no
hope. ‘The children first witnessed the alleged bullying by this boy, then his
father supporting him and then the father hitting the headteacher. It is simply
unacceptable. ‘This should have been an exemplary sentence to ensure that
people are put off doing things like this. A custodial sentence should have
been seriously considered. ‘Often you feel that someone who has committed a
crime has not been punished as much as they should have been. It looks as
though law and order has gone out of the window.’
Stratford, who wore a black T-shirt in the dock yesterday,
claimed he was ‘protecting’ his son, who was in tears after Mrs McCormick
excluded him for a day. ‘She was uncontrollable, she was close to his eye,’ he
claimed. ‘I was worried about her pointing him in the eye and blinding him. And
that’s when I thought I needed to do something to protect my kid.’ Details of
Stratford’s son’s allegedly racist remarks were not revealed to the court, but
at a previous hearing Mrs McCormick, who said she had not been injured in the
assault, described the violent aftermath. She said: ‘Mr Stratford made two huge
steps and actually punched and pushed me and said “Don’t tell my son off”. The
punch came first and then it was a push. It was almost like a fist and a hand
and I came backwards. I said “Don’t hit the headteacher”. It’s quite shocking
and it’s very frightening.’ Pauline Lambert, prosecuting, said Stratford had
not met the headmistress prior to the attack. After throwing the punch he
continued to rant until he left the building, she said.
A recent survey by the NAHT revealed as many as one in ten
head teachers has been physically assaulted by a parent or carer. The 1,362
heads surveyed in England, Wales and Northern Ireland reported being punched,
spat on, kicked, head butted, bitten and sexually assaulted. Twice as many
reported being victimised on social networking websites. One described a
‘serious kicking attack’ that left its victim ‘badly bruised’ and with
‘difficulty walking for a couple of days’. In one case a head said a parent had
tried to run them over in the car park. Another had a table thrown at them. And
one description read: ‘Punched in the face, bitten, kicked, spat at, hand down
T-shirt to grab breasts, hair pulled.’
Free, the fraudster who stole 9,000 bank PINs
A cashpoint fraudster walked free from court yesterday
despite being caught with the private details of 9,000 bank customers. Leonid
Rotaru, 32, was captured red-handed by police as he returned to remove a
card-reading device from a supermarket cash machine. Officers said the Romanian
was a member of an organised gang and already on the run from another force for
the same crime.
Scam: Leonid Rotaru, front right was involved in a sophisticated bank card fraud thought to be worth in excess of £3 million and with 9,000 potential victims. He is pictured walking free from court
When they raided his home they found details of 9,000 bank
cards, including personal identification numbers (PINs) – on his computer which
could have bagged him up to £3.25m. But he escaped a jail term when he admitted
four charges of fraud and possessing various illegal devices at Taunton Crown
Court. Sentencing him to a suspended 18-month jail term, Judge Graham Hume
Jones said: ‘This is a sophisticated scam by which a number of people could
have been victims. ‘Even if they had been repaid by the banks, the banks
themselves would have been the victims, and ultimately the banks’ customers.’ Criminals
use a wide range of tricks to steal private banking details, including
increasingly sophisticated skimming machines. Last year more than £36m was
stolen.
In July 2008, Romanian fraudster Adu Bunu was jailed for
five years after he was convicted of cloning more than 2,000 cards, which
allowed him to steal up to £1.1million. In October 2011, another Romanian, Ion
Matei, 34, was jailed for a year after using mousetrap paper to line ATMs
[automated teller machines] so that when customers tried to withdraw their
cash, the notes stuck to the paper and did not emerge from the slot.
Fraud: Leonid Rotaru is pictured returning to remove his skimmer from a cash machine in Somerset
Criminal: The 32-year-old helped to fit 'skimming' devices on cash dispensers, which downloaded the card details of those who used them
In the latest case to come before the courts, Rotaru – who
has lived legally in Britain for three years – used a sophisticated
card-reader, sometimes known as a ‘skimmer’. It fitted over the slot where
customers enter their cards and automatically recorded information on the
magnetic card strip. At the same time a hidden pinhole camera would record the
victim entering their PIN on the keypad. The crook could then use the
information to make duplicate cards. The father-of-two was caught out after a customer
at a Tesco store in Minehead, Somerset, called police after becoming suspicious.
Officers looked at CCTV and saw Rotaru fitting the device and he was arrested
as one of them recognised him when, by chance, he returned to collect it. They
raided his home in Bridgwater and discovered he had built up a massive hoard of
private banking information. They also found evidence Rotaru emailed the
details to other members of the gang so they could ‘cash in’. When interviewed,
he told police he was ‘at the bottom end’ of the operation, and that the ‘big
boys operated out of London’. He refused to identify them.
Free: Mr Rotaru was given an 18-month jail term, suspended for two years
The court heard Rotaru skipped bail while under
investigation for another fraud in Axminster, Devon, in 2011. He was eventually
convicted by a jury after his DNA was discovered inside the inner components
of the tiny device. Speaking outside court, Barry Douglas, of Avon and
Somerset Police, said Rotaru was part of a well organised gang. He added:
‘Banks say the average fraud per card is £460.’ Detective Chief Inspector Paul
Barnard, who leads the police’s cheque and plastic crime unit, told the Mail in
March that 92 per cent of all ATM fraud in Britain is committed by Romanian
nationals. Officers warned there were an estimated 1,000 Romanian cashpoint
gangs in Britain, raking in an estimated £30m a year.
Sophisticated: This is a police picture showing two views of a card skimming device used by Mr Rotaru
Source: Daily Mail UK
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