Man attacked with knife in ‘serious case of witness intimidation’ by Jake Bozarth on The Nightingales estate

A man was battered into a coma and then, as he recovered, attacked with a knife in a bid to silence him.

Gang-related mayhem on a Greenham housing estate last year had prompted police to impose a rare, emergency Section 60 order giving them enhanced powers to keep order.

On Wednesday, May 15, two local teenagers, Jake Bozarth and Jake Blandford, were jailed for witness intimidation arising from a summer of violence.

Brinder Soora, prosecuting, said victim Callum Brown had been attacked by a gang on The Nightingales estate in May and beaten into an eight-day coma.

He subsequently helped police with their investigation and was due to give evidence in court, marking him as a target for Bozarth and Blandford, the court heard.

On September 11 last year the pair lay in wait for Mr Brown as he returned to the estate in a taxi with his grandmother.

Ms Soora said: “The prosecution say the defendants’ intentions were rooted in the May incident; they wished to harm or frighten him to deter him from giving evidence.”

Before he left in the taxi, the pair had been taunting him, calling him a “snitch” and a “grass,” the court heard.

As the taxi returned, added Ms Soora, 19-year-old Bozarth, who had been living in Newtown Road, Newbury, pulled open the door and began slashing and lunging at Mr Brown with a large knife.

Ms Soora said the incident was filmed by Mr Brown’s girlfriend, Georgina Blandford - Jake Blandford’s sister.

She added: “With some bravery, it must be said, Georgina pushed herself in between Mr Bozarth and the back of the taxi to prevent him getting to her partner.”

Bozarth admitted witness intimidation and threatening with a knife.

He has previously been cautioned for two assaults, theft and a public order offence.

Blandford, who was living at Dickens Walk, admitted witness intimidation on the basis that he did not know Bozarth had a knife until it was produced and that he had merely played a supporting role.

He has previously been cautioned for possessing a knife and for a public order offence.

Both have been in custody awaiting sentence since last December.

James McCrindell, for Bozarth, said: “He has expressed, to some extent, regret about this matter.

“He didn’t say he regretted his actions but did say he would take steps to avoid similar altercations in future.”

He said his client was immature for his age and added: “The pressures on the prison population is a factor Your Honour can take into account in sentencing.”

Abigail Husbands, for Blandford, said her client had turned 19 while on remand in Bullingdon prison and added: “If he didn’t understand before how seriously the courts take this type of offence, he certainly does now.”

She told the court Blandford had played a much lesser role in the incident and was “susceptible to peer pressure”.

Judge Alan Blake said the pair had been “hunting” their victim in a “very serious example of witness intimidation” amounting to a “deliberate attack on justice”.

He sentenced Bozarth to 26 months youth detention and Blandford to 10 months youth detention, half to be served locked up and the remainder on licence in the community.

The months the pair have already spent in detention means the time has been served in Blandford’s case, with weeks remaining for Bozarth.

Afterwards the investigating officer, DC Sean Morris, said: “We do not tolerate knife crime in the Thames Valley.

“I hope that this conviction and sentence will help to reassure the public and local community that we will tackle all forms of this type of offence and we will support victims and witnesses by dealing robustly with such intimidation offences as these.”