ASBO yob's jail appeal thrown out

Brett David Rees, of Norfolk Court, Rotherham, pleaded guilty to a string of offences at Sheffield Crown Court in December last year, including breach of anASBO and common assault, and was jailed in January.

Rees, a 25-year-old with a string of previous convictions, had also abused security guards at Rotherham General Hospital and flicked blood at them.

His lawyers argued at London's Court of Appeal on Friday that his sentence was "manifestly excessive".

But Mr Justice Gross, sitting at the Appeal Court with Mr Justice Griffith Williams, said that Rees could have no complaint with the jail term and dismissed the challenge.

He added that Rees had caused serious "harassment, alarm and distress" to those he had targeted.

On June 27 last year, Rees, who was the subject of an ASBO, was being treated for an injury to his arm late at night at Rotherham General Hospital when he was warned about his attitude towards an elderly couple.

When he failed to stop abusing them, he was escorted from the building, but threatened security guards before squeezing blood from his arm and flicking it at them. He was wrestled to the ground.

In September, Rees intimidated his neighbour—a young mother—on her way to and from the hospital.

At one point, the woman became so scared of him that she climbed over a fence to escape his attentions, the court heard.

Just a few days later another neighbour, Sylvia Smith, saw him in their local shop and he shouted at her, accusing her of giving him the "evil eye".

When the pensioner stood up to him and asked him why he was picking on the elderly, he followed her to her house and called her a "dirty bitch". She was badly shaken by what had happened.

The court heard that Rees had 37 convictions for 60 offences, including 10 for common assault, and numerous others for public order offences.