Burglar Sami Hussain 'Went Berserk' in King Street Betting Shop
Jailed for beating man with stool then attacking woman who survived Grenfell fire
The charges included inflicting GBH, affray and assault by beating.
Guildford Crown Court heard that on February 5 last year, Hussain assaulted a man with a stool in Paddy Power at 118 King Street before randomly attacking a woman in the street, who turned out to be a survivor of the Grenfell Tower tragedy.
Sentencing Hussain, 25, Judge Peter Moss said: "You went berserk in a betting shop. You turned your attention to one of the customers and attacked him by throwing punches and striking him with a stool.
“You then went in the street and came across a woman. You assaulted her and beat her by kicking her. She had already suffered the horrors of being an evacuee from Grenfell Tower."
The court heard that the woman, who was staying at the nearby Holiday Inn in King Street following the tragedy, pleaded with Mr Hussain to stop kicking her.
Judge Moss said Hussain was addicted to drugs and added that the attack had left his victim in the betting shop requiring surgery.
Hussain was sentenced to four years and three months for the assaults as well as the burglaries.
His co-defendants, Lewis Kelleher of Portsmouth and Richard Hart from Shepherd's Bush were also jailed on 9 January for conspiracy to commit burglary.
Kelleher, 31, described as the "leader and organiser" of the burglaries by Judge Moss, was sentenced to five years and seven months in prison.
Hart, 34, from Coningham Road in Shepherd's Bush was sentenced to two years in prison.
Between November 2017 and July 2018, a number of properties in Surrey, Hampshire, Sussex and Hertfordshire were targeted, with a total of £60,000 worth of jewellery and other items being stolen, and caused damage amounting to over a total of £28,000,
In July 2018, a series of search warrants were executed in Fulham, Hammersmith and Portsmouth by officers from Surrey Police and Hampshire Constabulary.
Kelleher was not found at his Portsmouth property. However items of clothing matching those worn by one of the offenders seen on CCTV were discovered, along with a large amount of costume jewellery which was believed to have been stolen.
Kelleher was later found at an address in Fulham and was arrested on suspicion of conspiracy to burgle. His mobile phone was seized, as were his trainers which matched those worn at one of the offences.
Further warrants resulted in the arrests of Hussain and Hart. While searching Hart’s home, police seized a number of exhibits, including two iPhones, a pair of sand-coloured boots which matched those worn in the CCTV during two motorbike thefts and a camouflage jacket and trousers identical to those worn by the offender at the offence in Farther Common Lane, Hampshire on 19 April 2018. Officers also recovered a black crash helmet matching that which was seen on CCTV during a burglary in Haslemere.
Richard Hart pleaded guilty to three offences, Sami Hussain pleaded guilty to 11 of the 21 burglaries and Kelleher pleaded guilty to 21 offences.
January 15, 2019