Shame of soldier who beat up 84-year-old veteran (From Warrington Guardian)

we send kids off to war in our name and for our protection then dont give them proper equiptment, even worse any support around their mental health! PTS is becming a massive problem, especially in an area which is a high recruitment town. Its utterly shamefull!

im not saying this young lad isnt responsible for his action, but we have to ask do peoplw who are consistantly subjected to life and death situation function well in everyday society without any kind of treatment?!?!?

Shameful. There is no excuse for this kind of behaviour and I don't think 12 months is enough for someone who had no regard whether his punch might have killed such an elderly man.

This is a truely sickening crime and sadly it's a story that's being played out everyday it different parts of the UK. There's no excuse whatsoever for it and 99% of the blame should be solely the soldiers fault but there's still the 1% that's the MOD's blame because they're sending young boy's and men into a war zone that really has got nothing to do with the British army or protecting the country because it's the old Government and now the coalition who can't gain control of the asylum seekers with many failed ones who've used all their appeals up of course funded by the UK tax payer through Legal aid that are still not being deported. A perfect example of this is the failed asylum seeker in Blackburn who should've been deported who was yet again behind the wheel of a car unlicenced taxed and insured who ran over and killed a little girl before fleeing the scene. He'd been caught multiple times before for the same offence but luckily hadn't killed anyone up to the point and when he was found guilty and waiting to be sentenced was caught multiple times more commiting the same offence. In the end he got just 4 months and upon being released a Judge approved him to stay in the UK despite already been told his asylum claim had been rejected because he had a girlfriend and the jointly owned a cat. The Judge explained that because of this if he was deported back to Iraq it would breach his human rights because it would deny him the option of having a settled family life! Since being released he's been caught more times driving with no licence, no insurance, no MOT and driving while banned. The murdered girls Dad has had to see him in the area often because he's remained in Blackburn where the child's family live. The MOD needs to help their soldiers returning from war zones because the things they've seen and been ordered to do is worse than any documentary or horror film which do damage a large percentage of the soldiers mind and the MOD just brush it under the carpet and makes soldiers who do need help integrating back into civvy life feel soft in the head or not good enough and that's why more and more current and ex soldiers specially those who've been in unconvencianal war zone's like Northern Ireland and now Afghanistan where the only people taking notice of the rules of war are the Western Countries where the insurgents will actually target medics which has resulted on the red cross sign being removed from medics because the enemy targets them like they do with officers. Like i said still doesn't excuse the soldier from his actions against an elderly gentleman who didn't do anything to provoke him. Some people are naturally bad but some are damaged by the MOD and it's these very young people who they should be helping instead of hiding even if it only prevents 1 person from being assaulted by a soldier it's worth it. At least he showed remorse unlike a lot of offenders who wear convictions like some badge of honour. Sorry about the long comment but there'll be many people in Warrington and the surrounding areas that know exactly what i mean about the Army's dirty little secret, i hope the ald fella has no lasting damage from this unproveked attack both physically and usually more damaging mentally

Being a soldier isn't an excuse for getting away with things. If you join the army, you know you're going to see bad things.

I agree that soldiers need looking after mentally as well as physically, but this guy still knew what he was doing. He knows the difference between right and wrong. He deserves his sentence and I hope he enjoys his turkey dinner on his plastic tray.

p.s. notatcreamfields, this case has nothing to do with the Blackburn asylum seeker so pipe down for a bit.

Dickinson sobbed after he was jailed for 12 months............

Whilst I can agree with chunkymunkys comments entirely I still think 12 months is not enough,
However this country doe,s nothing to help soldiers or ex soldiers when they return from active duty,
Maybe this is why today,s youth dont want to join up in order to be abandoned by the government of the day..

disgraceful. utterly disgusting. regardless of PTS, his actions are out of order.

It has everything to do with the Blackburn case because if we hadn't followed America into an illegal war which basically everyone agrees that this was the case even though nobody has been held responsible for we wouldn't have such a large number of asylum seekers fleeing both honestly and dishonestly illegally entering the UK after crossing multiple "safe countries" while not applying for asylum in any of these like the guide lines on asylum recommends. No matter how much they deny it they know about the UK's soft touch including allowing people to break the law multiple times with near enough 0% of being deported to their home countries where they wouldn't dare to commit the crimes that they do here because it's not tolerated like it is by the liberal judges in the UK. If we hadn't entered that first illegal war it's unlikely we'd go to Afghanistan which is literaly breaking our young soldiers minds making them more likely to commit disgusting crimes like this. I'm not saying for one moment that the soldier shouldn't be held responsible for this because he should be, what i'm saying is the MOD need's to provide support upon their return for unconventianal war zones with enemie's who've never even heard of the Geneva rules of engagement and the only time they will take POW's is to later decapitate them while still alive with very blunt weapons dragging it out for as long as they can, record it then send it to the media. I'd be terrified if i was over there and won't deny it for a second. The majority of level headed people going into warfare like that will be permantly scarred by it no matter how big and manly they are. The reason i've said this is because this soldier attacking the ald fella is the result of numerous different actions and UK citizen's are being killed, assaulted, raped because of the last 20 years with the UK being forced into the middle east by America who's interest has nothing to do with human rights it's to do with money specially oil. America's main export is firearms and other instruments of war and have become very wealthy from these wars. American's also have been killed by displaced people from the war's but noway near as much as Europe because once they're through Turkey into Greece there's virtually no more check points because of free movement within the EU of course till they get to Calias where there's the natural Border of the English Channel and also searches by the UK Border Agency both in France and Dover. Of course it could be a lot better because hundreds are making it into the UK everyday and once here because of EU rules and the ridiculous amounts of time it takes for asylum cases to be processed and the high number of appeals they're entitled to all paid for by the tax payer. Even when they've exhausted all their appeals and are still denied asylum it take's months to deport them if they stay in the same place that they've declared to the court's which 99% of them don't they're basically impossible to deport cause they will have gone into the black economy in takeaways or as farm hands. Even when the Police do stumble across them they're bailed even though they've absconded multiple times prior to this and they'll simplerly relocate as there's huge networks of failed asylum seekers now so yes what happened to this poor man does have something to do with the first illegal war which led to huge waves of people some who are not even from Iraq or Afghanistan who lie to create a better life for themselves in the UK which to be honest a lot of people would do if they knew of a country where they'd get free housing with running water, electric all the time plus free money. Plus if they commit crime it's still very unlikely they'd get deported for it. Maybe if the illegal war never happened and the first genuine asylum seekers never reported back that the street's were paved with gold compared to the majority of islamic countries 9/11 or 7/7 might never happened then Afghanistan would never have happened cause the only profit America would make is from weapons cause there's not vast fields of oil there. If Afghanistan never happened there wouldn't be thousands of British soldiers coming back damaged for life because of what they had seen and there wouldn't be serious crimes like armed robbery, rape and murder commited by asylum seekers cause a lot wouldn't be here. It's all actions leading on from one another and i'm sure if Blair could turn the clock back in hindsight he wouldn't have sent UK troops into an illegal war that's real cause was primerily for oil with a secondary bonus of earning hundreds of millions from selling weapons. The UK also earns a lot from the sale of instruments of death but nowhere near as much as America

A disgrace to all who have served and are fighting for this country

notatcreamfields wrote:
It has everything to do with the Blackburn case because if we hadn't followed America into an illegal war which basically everyone agrees that this was the case even though nobody has been held responsible for we wouldn't have such a large number of asylum seekers fleeing both honestly and dishonestly illegally entering the UK after crossing multiple "safe countries" while not applying for asylum in any of these like the guide lines on asylum recommends. No matter how much they deny it they know about the UK's soft touch including allowing people to break the law multiple times with near enough 0% of being deported to their home countries where they wouldn't dare to commit the crimes that they do here because it's not tolerated like it is by the liberal judges in the UK. If we hadn't entered that first illegal war it's unlikely we'd go to Afghanistan which is literaly breaking our young soldiers minds making them more likely to commit disgusting crimes like this. I'm not saying for one moment that the soldier shouldn't be held responsible for this because he should be, what i'm saying is the MOD need's to provide support upon their return for unconventianal war zones with enemie's who've never even heard of the Geneva rules of engagement and the only time they will take POW's is to later decapitate them while still alive with very blunt weapons dragging it out for as long as they can, record it then send it to the media. I'd be terrified if i was over there and won't deny it for a second. The majority of level headed people going into warfare like that will be permantly scarred by it no matter how big and manly they are. The reason i've said this is because this soldier attacking the ald fella is the result of numerous different actions and UK citizen's are being killed, assaulted, raped because of the last 20 years with the UK being forced into the middle east by America who's interest has nothing to do with human rights it's to do with money specially oil. America's main export is firearms and other instruments of war and have become very wealthy from these wars. American's also have been killed by displaced people from the war's but noway near as much as Europe because once they're through Turkey into Greece there's virtually no more check points because of free movement within the EU of course till they get to Calias where there's the natural Border of the English Channel and also searches by the UK Border Agency both in France and Dover. Of course it could be a lot better because hundreds are making it into the UK everyday and once here because of EU rules and the ridiculous amounts of time it takes for asylum cases to be processed and the high number of appeals they're entitled to all paid for by the tax payer. Even when they've exhausted all their appeals and are still denied asylum it take's months to deport them if they stay in the same place that they've declared to the court's which 99% of them don't they're basically impossible to deport cause they will have gone into the black economy in takeaways or as farm hands. Even when the Police do stumble across them they're bailed even though they've absconded multiple times prior to this and they'll simplerly relocate as there's huge networks of failed asylum seekers now so yes what happened to this poor man does have something to do with the first illegal war which led to huge waves of people some who are not even from Iraq or Afghanistan who lie to create a better life for themselves in the UK which to be honest a lot of people would do if they knew of a country where they'd get free housing with running water, electric all the time plus free money. Plus if they commit crime it's still very unlikely they'd get deported for it. Maybe if the illegal war never happened and the first genuine asylum seekers never reported back that the street's were paved with gold compared to the majority of islamic countries 9/11 or 7/7 might never happened then Afghanistan would never have happened cause the only profit America would make is from weapons cause there's not vast fields of oil there. If Afghanistan never happened there wouldn't be thousands of British soldiers coming back damaged for life because of what they had seen and there wouldn't be serious crimes like armed robbery, rape and murder commited by asylum seekers cause a lot wouldn't be here. It's all actions leading on from one another and i'm sure if Blair could turn the clock back in hindsight he wouldn't have sent UK troops into an illegal war that's real cause was primerily for oil with a secondary bonus of earning hundreds of millions from selling weapons. The UK also earns a lot from the sale of instruments of death but nowhere near as much as America

Once again, shoehorning your prejudice opinions of immigration and asylum seekers into any story you can..

This is just utter drivel and serves only your bigoted agenda and has nothing at all to do with the actual story.

Nah I'm not having that notatcreamfields. This doesn't have anything to do with asylum seekers. I'd like to say that you're over-thinking the situation here, but I doubt you're thinking at all as you're spouting out narrow minded nonsense yet again.

Dickinson knew what he was doing, and knows what he did was wrong (hence the remorse). He is a UK resident and serves to protect its citizens, and fight for our human rights. Those human rights include being able to have a pint without getting your face smashed in. Black, white, young, old, asylum seeking or not. We live in a modern, multi-cultural society. Deal with it.

Boxerboy wrote:
A disgrace to all who have served and are fighting for this country

just about sums this up

Yep ..... a discrace to the uniform & to the UK military ethos im affraid , "Partial PTSD" according to Michael Davies defending, oh come-on ! ...... A.A.C , 21 yrs old, I would like to know which PB, TAOR or BG he cut his teeth with in toe to toe insurgent combat ..... "Pretty Tough Sunburn Disorder" morelike ...... Been-Seen-Done ..... 12 months was not enough its insulting enough to do the crime but to claim "PTSD" in his defense is an afront to those whom have "Really" cut the mustard out in the Afghan.

Sick+tired of hearing excuses for bad+yobbish behaviour ;o/
The uniform shouldn't come into it.
They always 'sob'+show remorse when they are made to pay... it fools no-one.
Everyone's sympathy should be saved for the victim ...in this case poor Mr Glynn+ also his family
I can only imagine how angry I would be if it had been my Dad/Grandad treated in this appalling way

SickAndTired i've told you multiple times what to do would you like me to write it in capitals for your because i see you're still struggling. DON'T READ MY COMMENTS AND THEN EVERYBODY IS HAPPY. I hope you managed to process that with your cannabis killed brain cells

P.S don't give your typical cannabis excuse calling me a drunk because i'm actually teetotal and before you say it does no harm to anyone if you've got Sky or Virgin or even from your internet connection i suggest you watch last Monday's Ross Kemp extreme world based in Marsialle if that's how you spell it which exposes murders every single day and housing estates that are no go for Police without 50 colleges armed with fully automatic weapons because that's what the cannabis dealers use. Yes you heard it right cannabis, no scene of crack or heroin so your long running cannabis is totally harmless has been blown out of the water totally because murders over it where people are shot and then put in a car which is torcherd really isn't harmless. These are street level dealers and users too not people higher up dealing with kilo bricks or 9 bars in France because they mostly get hash from their family members in Moroco as most are immigrants. Really though doesn't matter where they are from they are getting killed and commiting murders over cannabis "the harmless drug"

Having known Gordon for a very long time, i am disgusted that this piece of scum only got 12 months, just because your in the army doesn't mean you should get off lightly, it means you should adhere to the rules more if anything. The one thing the guardian didn't mention was that Gordon has to have his retina re-attached after the blatant attack, for an elderley man to have to go through that because some jumped up little sh!t had a bad day makes me sick. Gordon hasn't been to the Pack Horse since and in actual fact rarely leaves his house anymore

(NACF How long does it take to type a comment that long? Do you think anyone reads them?)

My sympathy to the victim, I hope he does come out for a pint again. I hope the violent thug learns a lesson and changes!