Reading Crown Court: Judge refuses to revoke sentence for woman who tried to pervert course of justice

Cash was offered for witnesses' silence

A WOMAN who tried to pervert the course of justice to protect her viscious thug boyfriend has been told her suspended sentence must stand.

Twenty-one-year-old Micha McCafferty from Thatcham had been given a nine-month suspended sentence for offering a couple hundred of pounds if they deliberately failed to pick out her cleaver-wielding partner, Thomas Britzman, at an identity parade.

The 25-year-old thug had caused chaos outside a Thatcham bar, repeatedly assaulting the licensee before terrorising strangers with a meat cleaver.

Britzman – also known as Britzman-Bailey – had approached a couple sitting in a car nearby and threatened: “I’m going to chop you up” before viciously attacking the male.

His girlfriend, McCafferty, later tried to bribe his victims to lie to police.

Britzman, from Newbury, had a history of pub-related violence.

In 2017, he was jailed for two years for pulverising a stranger’s face during an unprovoked attack outside the former Diamond Tap in Newbury town centre.

The innocent victim’s cheekbone and eye socket were shattered, causing permanent nerve damage and necessitating lengthy, specialist medical treatment to save the right eye.

McCafferty stayed loyal to Britzman as he was jailed for his latest outrage but at Reading Crown Court on Wednesday, November 11, Judge Heather Norton heard an application from probation officers to revoke the remainder of the suspended sentence order because of her subsequent good behaviour and compliance with an unpaid work order.

Judge Norton told McCafferty: "I remember this case and the reason why you got a suspended sentence – perverting the course of justice is...generally regarded as affecting the whole of society. If justice cannot run its course, then we are all in trouble.

"I know this was the first offence you ever committed and I know it is going to be the last one. You have managed to get a promotion, at a time where everyone else is really struggling."

The court had heard how McCafferty had obtained an NVQ qualification in childcare and worked in customer service at a telecommunications company where she had undertaken courses in being a fire marshall and first-aid training.

The judge then asked her: "There has been no contact with Mr Britzman, I am hoping?"

After a slight pause, McCafferty replied: "We have had contact, yeah, but we are not really together or anything."

The judge said: "It is not in any way, shape or form for me to tell you what to do but you are better than that, aren't you? You are better than that. What has happened here and what you are doing with your life proves that. Really, for what it is worth, trust yourself and believe in yourself and go on for that.”

However she declined to revoke the remainder of the suspended sentence order.

Judge Norton concluded: “That is what it is; you are still at risk of that. Otherwise, it is one of the rare occasions in which I can say well done, thank you for complying and I really hope that all goes well with you in the future. Please, please, please let us never see you again."

McCafferty replied: "I promise you will never see this face again."