Well, this week is no different and the current specimen of Pondlife is detailed below.
Life sentence warning for "dangerous" Stourbridge crook
Craig Hickinbottom
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A NOTORIOUS armed robber who raided shops across the Stourbridge area has been told he could be jailed for life.
Following a two-week trial at Wolverhampton Crown Court, Craig Hickinbottom, was found guilty of possessing a firearm.
He was remanded in custody while reports were prepared for Judge Martin Walsh, who said he would consider handing down an indeterminate sentence for public protection.
Hickinbottom, aged 29, was detained after a police chase in West Bromwich while driving a car stolen in Stourbridge after he fled from a Walsall bail hostel.
Following the chase he was arrested along with 18-year-old passenger Conor Cox of New Street, Brierley Hill.
A third man, Dean Isitt, 31, left the scene armed with a sawn-off shotgun and three cartridges, he later threatened to shoot a man at a West Bromwich iron and steel firm.
Isitt told the man, "Get out of my way or I will shoot" as he held up the gun before running off along a canal towpath.
Isitt, of Waterfall Lane, Rowley Regis, dropped the gun but it was recovered by police and they found his fingerprints on the bag used to carry the weapon.
Hickinbottom, of no fixed address, Isitt and Cox all denied possessing the firearm, possessing the stolen Vauxhall Corsa and false registration plates.
The judge remanded the three men in custody after a jury found them guilty on all charges.
Hickinbottom was branded a dangerous criminal by police during a nationwide manhunt after he escaped from custody in 2006.
The search began after armed men freed Hickinbottom from a prison van while he was serving a five-year-eleven-month sentence for armed robbery at shops in Norton and Kingswinford.
In 2007 he was jailed for three-and-a-half years for the escape and two years later lost an appeal against his category A status and licence conditions which banned him from visiting large parts of the region - which he was found to have breached.
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Stolen vehicles, car chases, bail hostels, shotguns, spare cartridges, he probably picked up all the tricks practicising Grand Theft Auto on his, mandatory Sony PS3 whilst doing chokey in Blakenhurst.
This boy has form..............
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Armed robber on the run after prison van hold-up
A 'violent' armed robber was on the run last night after escaping from a prison van held up at gunpoint by a masked gang.In a pre-planned ambush Craig Hickinbottom, 24, escaped after the vehicle taking him from court to jail was stopped by two armed men. The van's staff were told they would be shot if they refused to hand Hickinbottom over.
The armed robber was being returned to Blakenhurst jail in Worcestershire from a routine appearance at nearby Redditch Magistrates' Court on a charge of driving while disqualified.
He was the sole occupant of the Reliance prison van, which was forced to a halt by an Audi car shortly after 1pm yesterday.
The vehicle was less than 400 yards away from the jail when its drivers were forced to release Hickinbottom, who is partway through a five year, 11 month sentence for robbery, was bundled out and escaped in the Audi which was last seen travelling north on the M5 near Redditch. No shots were fired and no one was injured.
The car was last seen travelling north on the M5 and police are appealing for witnesses.
A West Mercia Police spokesman said: 'Members of the public who see the men are asked not to approach them but to call 999 immediately.'
Detective Chief Inspector Kevin Purcell said two men wearing balaclavas used a gun to threaten staff in the van. 'He (Hickinbottom) is a violent individual, he is serving a prison sentence for armed robbery, his escape today was facilitated by people with a handgun,' he added.
'He is very dangerous. The drivers of the van were threatened with a firearm. This is an unusual crime and I think it is audacious.
'I would urge anyone who may have information or who may know where this man is to contact us as a matter of urgency so that we can put him back where he belongs.'
The convict is white, 5ft 11in, with blue eyes, close-cropped ginger hair and is currently clean-shaven. He escaped in a blue or silver car. Hickinbottom speaks with a Midlands accent and was wearing light blue denim jeans and a light-coloured top. Blakenhurst is a category B jail where inmates are deemed to pose a risk to public safety.
The fugitive, from Bromsgrove, Worcestershire, was jailed for two armed robberies committed in Stourbridge and Kingswinford in 2002,
Hickinbottom was released from prison on licence in June but recalled a few days later. He has family and criminal connections in the Black Country area of the West Midlands.
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Inspector Purcell said the ambush was 'audacious' - I can just imagine 'Hicky' ringing his mates on his smuggled mobile phone from the comfort of his padded cell and asking them to do something audacious.
Below are several definitions of 'audacious' feel free to choose a suitable one for the occasion.
1. Fearlessly, often recklessly daring; bold.
2. Unrestrained by convention or propriety; insolent.
3. Spirited and original:2. Unrestrained by convention or propriety; insolent.
I would go for "spirited and original "myself.
Meanwhile, at the taxpayers expense an appeal is launched!!!
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Convicted robber Hickinbottom loses bid for freedom
Hickinbottom, after just being told that the taxpayers are funding` his appeal!
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A FORMER armed robber who escaped from prison has failed in a High Court bid to win freedom.Quote -
Craig Hickinbottom - who wants to live with his mother at her house in Waterways Drive, Oldbury - was recalled to jail earlier this year for breaching a ban which prevented him entering towns across the Black Country.
He was returned to maximum security HMP Whitemoor in Cambridgeshire in July after being free for six months.
His lawyers challenged his licence conditions as "disproportionate", and argued he has been unfairly given top security Category A status in the prison system.
But High Court judge, Mr Justice Pitchford, said the judicial review challenge had been brought under a "misapprehension".
Licence conditions were designed to protect the public from further offences, he said, and Hickinbottom - who took part in proceedings via video link - had been effectively serving his sentence in the community and should have abided by them.
As well as being banned from Halesowen, Kingswinford, Wordsley, Amblecote, Stourbridge, Lye, Brierley Hill, Cradley Heath and Oldbury, Hickinbottom was ordered to adhere to a curfew confining him to a hostel for 16 hours a day.
He was also banned from seeing his former associates and being carried in a motor vehicle without prior permission.
Mr Justice Pitchford also dismissed the challenge to Hickinbottom's Category A status, observing he could have no complaint after committing a string of crimes and escaping when two armed associates held up a prison van.
Hickinbottom's legal team - paid for by the taxpayer - argued his status had been determined after the authorities read erroneous details about some of the crimes he committed.
The court heard that in 2002, shortly after being freed on licence for firearms offences, Hickinbottom received a five-year jail term at Wolverhampton Crown Court for robbery, theft and burglary.
Released on licence in 2006, he was recalled to jail after a motoring offence.
But when he was being transferred to prison from Redditch Crown Court on September 27, 2006, two masked men - armed with a firearm and a baseball - held up the van he was in and he escaped through the roof, spending eight days on the run.
Hickinbottom - whose sentence will finally expire in late 2010 - pleaded guilty to escaping from lawful custody on the basis that he knew a bid to free him was being hatched, but he was unaware it would take place on September 27, and he did not realise his friends would be armed.
He was jailed for a further three and a half years at Birmingham Crown Court in 2007 for that offence.
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At least somebody had the sense to have him participate in the proceeding via a video link this time......I mean the last time he was the 'sole' occupant of a RELIANCE prisoner delivery vehicle.
His very own Reliance Robbin!
Why bother with Reliance Security? It would have been cheaper to have got a taxi from one from one of the local rob-dogs (no receipt, no paper trail) and you could have killed two birds with one stone i.e. delivered a prisoner there and back and on the return visit the driver could have dropped off some of the drugs that they ferry around the area (about time there were random sniffer dog inspections of local taxis, c'mon it does'nt take much working out).
The above article states that the ambush was carried out by somebody with a firearm and a baseball - should be easy enough to catch i would have thought.
Likely suspect - Honest Ron.........complete with firearm and baseball.To be fair his QC put up a spirited defence stating that his client was a long-time sufferer of and receiving treatment for TMSS - Too Much Sweeney Syndrome. He has watched episodes back to back in his cell and actually think that is what people do and at the end of the day you have all the make-up removed and finish at the Pub with John Thaw and Dennis Waterman.
He does'nt realise that you will actually go to jail, providing they have the room (because as we all know, sentencing guidelines are dictated by the prison space available and bears no relation to the severity of the crime committed). On the rare occasions that 'Hicky' spoke during the court proceedings he just muttered "Sweeney, Blags, Shooters, Fuck off Guv and Shut it you Slag".
Back in his chambers his QC Roley Birkin was able to succinctly explain his clients dilemma and recount a tale of when 'Hicky' was arrested in Edinburgh using a false crutch as a weapon.
I have my own conspiracy theory - i think that there is a very real possibility that 'Hicky' is innocent of all of the above and that he is being fitted up by the powers that be (it would'nt be the first time would it?)
Just think, how often do you see either of the Flintoff twins, Andrew and Freddy and Hicky together? I have trawled Google Images (having too much time on my hands) and i cannot find a picture of all of them in the same place at the same time.
Flintoffs meet the Flintoffs.
Hickinbottom................................................... Andrew Flintoff
The Flintoff twins are facing hard times due to a repetative strain injury imposed by years of hard-drinking and some cricket and will face a massive shortfall in their income which could mean selling some of their Dubai property portfolio and the odd racehorse.
This could have led to desperate measures to raise some ready cash to fund their off-field habits.
Andrew using a cricket ball as practice for a baseball.
If neither Freddie or Andrew secure a lucrative TV deal or advertising in the near future what's the betting 'Hicky' will have escaped........Coincidence or what?
Remember..........
Yo ay sid me, roight!
