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Man loses appeal over attack on Sugababe's ex
July 14, 2010
A MAN jailed for an "extremely serious" attack on Sugababe Amelle Berrabah’s ex-boyfriend has failed in a bid to overturn his conviction and been told he deserved every day of his jail term.
Top judges heard that 31-year-old Jimmy Wenman was convicted of an assault on victim Freddie Fuller – the former partner of Aldershot singer Berrabah – in the town centre on Christmas Eve 2007.
Wenman, of Rectory Lane, Bentley, near Farnham, was jailed for 12 years after a jury at Winchester Crown Court convicted him of wounding with intent on April 30 last year.
He launched bids to challenge his conviction and sentence at London's Criminal Appeal Court on Tuesday, with his lawyers arguing the trial judge misdirected the jury and set his prison term too high.
But top judges dismissed both appeals, saying there was "no reason" either to doubt the safety of the conviction or to find the sentence "excessive".
Mr Justice Roderick Evans, sitting with Lord Justice Leveson and Judge Michael Stokes QC, told the court Mr Fuller was attacked after leaving a pub in Aldershot.
He had been drinking in the Goose pub and was walking in nearby Heathland Street when Wenman hit him a number of times with a sharp implement – reported at the time to be a machete-like weapon.
The court heard one of the blows was so forceful that it broke Mr Fuller's elbow. He also sustained a number of other cuts to his arm and legs in the attack.
He was taken to Frimley Park Hospital and consultants carried out a conplex seven-hour operation on Christmas Day to re-attach parts of his arm.
Wenman handed himself in at a police station on Boxing Day but refused to make any comment.
At his trial, an eyewitness said she heard Wenman shout "I'm going to kill you" as Mr Fuller asked him to call an ambulance.
Handing down his ruling this week, Mr Justice Roderick Evans said: "Nothing in the copious grounds [of appeal] pursued casts any doubt whatsoever on the safety of this conviction.
"In our judgment, the sentence in this case is well within the range available to the judge and cannot be described as manifestly excessive."
For more on this story, see this week's Aldershot News & Mail, out on Friday, July 16.
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