Jack Tweed victim blasts jail term, insisting he was let-off lightly The cabbie attacked by Jack Tweed yesterday insisted he was let-off lightly with a 12-week jail term because of the publicity surrounding wife Jade Goody’s death.
Stephen Wilkins accused magistrates of going easy on Tweed when they should have thrown the book at him.
Drunken Tweed, 21, who was in the cab with three friends, threatened to stab Stephen and grabbed him round the throat during a row about the fare.
He also pulled on the handbrake as the cab sped along at 50mph – sending it into a spin. Stephen, 54, said: “He could have killed four people and all he gets is a few weeks.
“If he had been Joe Bloggs he would have got what he deserved.
“But because of who he is and who he married he got off lightly.
“But I’m just an ordinary guy. Does it matter what I think? Obviously not.” At the time of the assault Tweed was on bail for battering a 16-year-old with a golf club. Stephen said: “It’s absolutely ridiculous. Why hasn’t he got what anyone else would get for attacking a boy with a golf club and then near killing me?
“He’ll be out in six weeks, if that. What is that all about? I still have nightmares about that night.
He has never apologised. He was like an animal. He knows exactly what he did and he should have been punished for it. If a car had come round the corner when he grabbed the handbrake we could all be dead. It could have been a family in that car.
“Now my kids don’t want me to go to work in case it happens again. I’m not able to move on because it is always on my mind. It scares me getting in the car because I imagine it happening again.”
Tweed’s family claimed his fame worked against him and led to him being treated harshly by magistrates.
Solicitor George Kampanella said: “The family are devastated and feel Jack has been treated more severely because of who he is. We are considering an appeal.”
Magistrates in Harlow, Essex, had told Tweed they had been contemplating an 18-week sentence. But they had reduced it because of the heartache he had suffered over 27-year-old Jade’s death from cancer on Mothers’ Day.
Chairman Margaret Webb said: “We are sending you to custody for a total period of 12 weeks.
“We think there is no other appropriate way to deal with you because the offence was so serious.
However, we have borne in mind the recent change in your personal circumstances and have reflected this in the length of the sentence, which would otherwise have been 18 weeks.”
Tweed, a part-time model and nightclub promoter, was told he will be freed on licence after six weeks.
He showed no emotion as he was sentenced and ordered to pay £455 costs and £200 compensation to Stephen. As he was led from the dock in handcuffs he nodded at weeping mum Mary and six friends in the public gallery.
His lawyer Tania Panagiotopoulou told the court he had matured “very quickly” since the offence because of Big Brother favourite Jade’s illness and death.
She said: “He has endured with dignity and maturity very difficult personal circumstances that have been well documented.
“He is a widower at the age of 21. His previous routine of going out with his friends and getting drunk – all that has been replaced.”
Tweed served four months of an 18 month sentence for the golf club attack in December 2006. He was released from prison on licence in January. He was still under curfew and wearing a tag when he was jailed yesterday.
Tweed attacked Stephen last May following a booze-fuelled night out at Club 195 in Epping. The cabbie picked up Tweed, his fashion assistant friend Michael Haswell and two girls in the early hours.
Tweed denied assault, claiming he had been “stupid drunk” and recalled nothing.
Before going for sentencing he said he would hide any jail term from Jade’s sons Bobby, five, and Freddy, four, by telling them he was holidaying in Africa.
The last time he went to prison he told the boys he was away living with Tarzan in the jungle.
Mirror
