By Ross McCarthy
Birmingham Evening Mail
BIRMINGHAM, England — A talented Birmingham boxer who left a paramedic fighting for life after he ran a red light as he tried to escape police was starting a four-year sentence today.
Amateur fighter Daniel Lawlor was part of an armed burglary gang which targeted homes and terrorised residents in south Birmingham.
He was at the wheel of a van which ploughed into an ambulance after running through red lights, leaving paramedic Emma Baxter with a catalogue of wounds, including a brain injury.
Lawlor, 20, of Alcott Road, Marston Green, was yesterday sent to a young offenders’ institution for four years after admitting conspiracy to burgle as well as a separate charge of burglary and dangerous driving.
Four others were also sentenced at Birmingham Crown Court, including Thomas Sidwell who was jailed for 10 years. Reacting to the sentences, Ms Baxter and fellow paramedic Lea Griffiths, who was also inside the ambulance during the collision, said: “We are both very pleased and also relieved it is all over and we can now continue with our lives. Thank you to everyone who has supported us over the last six months.”
Kevin Hegarty, prosecuting, said that on March 31 this year Lawlor and others had broken into an address in Kingstanding and neighbours called the police. Officers travelling to the scene saw Lawlor, who was on bail at the time, at the wheel of a van travelling along Chester Road in the opposite direction.
Mr Hegarty said it was going at such a speed the officers lost sight of it. He said Lawlor got to a junction with Birmingham Road where the lights were on red but failed to stop. “He immediately collided with the ambulance side-on. The force of the collision caused the ambulance to swerve and smash head-on into a brick wall.”
Mr Hegarty said the paramedics had to be cut free and Miss Baxter suffered a tear to the brain as well as damage to her lungs, a snapped vertebrae and a fractured pelvis. Mr Hegarty said she was initially wheelchair-bound, suffered memory loss and her pelvis had still not properly healed.
Judge Amjad Nawaz also banned Lawlor from the roads for two years and passed consecutive sentences of 18 months for the conspiracy charge, 15 for the dangerous driving and 15 for the burglary. Sidwell, 24, of Neville Road, Shirley, had previously admitted conspiracy to burgle and was convicted, following a trial, of three charges of robbery.
Thomas Freeman, 21, of Greenwood Avenue and Lee Ralph, 23, of Anstey Grove, both Acocks Green, were jailed for 15 months after admitting the conspiracy charge. Angela Pender, 45, also of Neville Road. was sentenced to a 12-month community order, ordered to do 150 hours’ unpaid work and pay pounds 150 costs after pleading guilty to handling stolen goods.
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