04/05/2005

Pellet gun teacher freed

The Court of Appeal has freed Linda Walker, the teacher who was jailed for firing a pellet gun during an argument with a group of youths.

The 48-year-old special needs teacher from Urmston, Greater Manchester received a six month jail sentence after being convicted of affray and possessing a firearm on March 29.

Mrs Walker claimed that she had fired the air pistol during a confrontation with a gang of youths. She told police that her home had been the target of vandalism, saying that her car and garden had been vandalised and that her garden shed had been broken into. Mrs Walker also said that she had been the recipient of nuisance phone calls, abusing her family.

However, at the trial no evidence was produced to indicate that any of the youths she confronted had been involved in the acts that Mrs Walker described.

Mrs Walker received a conditional discharge but the three appeal court judges denied her permission to challenge the convictions. She had wanted to use new evidence, from a milkman called Dave Matthews, that one of the youths she confronted had been seen on her property. However, the appeal court judges said that that evidence did not relate to the day of Mrs Walker’s confrontation with the youths.

(KMcA/SP)

Related UK National News Stories
Click here for the latest headlines.

06 December 2012
Teen Jailed For 12 Years For Killing 'Sympathetic' Barman
A teenager has been jailed for 12 years for the murder of a barman. Ryan Esquierdo, 19, choked 28-year-old Stuart Walker to death at an industrial estate in Cumnock on 22 October last year before setting his body alight. He admitted he killed Mr Walker, who was gay, after he tried to comfort him over his own confused sexuality.
30 November 2007
Sudan Protestors Call For Teacher's Death
Sudanese protestors took to the streets in their thousands on Friday to protest about the trial of British school teacher Gillian Gibbons, jailed over naming a teddy bear in her class 'Mohammed'.
05 August 2005
Two in court over Walker murder
Two men appeared in court on Friday, charged with the murder of black teenager Anthony Walker last week.
02 October 2006
British soldiers 'unlawfully killed'
Two British soldiers who died after being ambushed in Iraq were unlawfully killed by Iraqi military intelligence, a coroner has ruled. Oxford coroner Andrew Walker said that Sergeant Simon Cullingworth, 36, and Sapper Luke Allsopp, 24, had been injured in the ambush outside the town of Al Zubayr near Basra in March 2003.
14 January 2014
CCTV Footage From Rebekah Brooks Trial Made Public
CCTV footage shown to the jury in the trial of former New International chief executive Rebekah Brooks has been made public. The footage, which was captured on the day Mrs Brooks was arrested, allegedly shows Mrs Brooks, her husband Chris and security staff trying to hide documents and a computer from police.