https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-13795775/Moment-homeless-addict-steals-mobility-scooter-dragging-die.htmlChilling moment homeless drug addict steals Parkinson's sufferer's mobility scooter and speeds off, dragging him along the road before leaving him to die in a Tesco car park
By Emily Cooper
Published: 09:48, 30 August 2024 | Updated: 11:40, 30 August 2024
Chilling CCTV footage shows the moment a homeless drug addict assaulted an elderly Parkinson's sufferer, robbed him of his mobility scooter and left him to die in sub-zero temperatures. Kimberley Ann Hawkins, 41, pleaded guilty to the manslaughter of Neil Shadwick, 63, in June following his death in Stroud, Gloucestershire last year. Hawkins was yesterday sentenced to six and a half years in jail at Gloucester Crown Court for the sickening crime. Neil was found unresponsive in the car park of a Tesco Superstore on Stratford Road on January 22, without his mobility scooter, which he used as his mode of transport. In footage released by police, Mr Shadwick can be seen driving up to a cashpoint at around 2.30am with a woman riding on the back of his scooter. Her nose is covered by a yellow scarf and she is wearing matching gloves. Mr Shadwick tried to withdraw cash while the woman, who appeared agitated, waited nearby. As he inputs his pin number, she clambers onto the scooter and drives away. Mr Shadwick grabs onto the scooter and uses one foot to keep his balance but Hawkins does not slow down. It is believed the elderly man was dragged along on the scooter for a 'considerable distance' before he fell off and Hawkins 'did not even look back'. Police said Hawkins rode away on the stolen mobility scooter, leaving Mr Shadwick to die in sub-zero temperatures. Supermarket staff who arrived for work at around 5.45am discovered Mr Shadwick less than a mile away from the cashpoint in a Tesco car park. Drifting in and out of consciousness, Mr Shadwick was able to emergency services 'Kim' and 'robbery' before he was taken to Gloucestershire Royal Hospital, where he died later that day. The scooter was found abandoned by a member of the public on Bisley Old Road over a mile away. Mr Shadwick's daughter Victoria Bentley said her 'incredibly vulnerable' father must have been 'terrified' as he was left to die. She told the court: 'He must have been terrified realising that he'd been abandoned and not knowing when or if help would arrive.'
She added how Hawkins 'did not even look back' after riding away on the mobility scooter. Hawkins previously admitted charges of aggravated vehicle taking, and assault occasioning actual bodily harm, in relation to the incident, in April 2023. Mary Cowe, prosecuting, told the court Mr Shadwick was 'extremely vulnerable' and lived in supported accommodation in Stroud, relying on carers visiting him four times a day. 'She did what she did out of a fit of pique. It was selfish and spiteful but not premeditated,' she said.
'She told a friend she had performed sexual favours for Mr Shadwick and he couldn't pay.'
Cowe added: 'A man who uses a mobility scooter and who has slurred speech and difficulty walking is vulnerable. 'She had known him for many months and had been intimate with him. His degree of vulnerability would have been obvious to her even if she had just met him.'
In a victim impact statement, Mr Shadwick's daughter Mrs Bentley said: 'Kimberley Hawkins knew by leaving Dad in that car park, on a freezing cold night, that she was leaving an incredibly vulnerable man who had no way of communicating as he could barely talk. He didn't have a phone and he had no way of getting any help. He must have been terrified realising that he'd been abandoned and not knowing when or if help would arrive. I have watched the CCTV and was horrified she didn't even look back. She didn't try to get him help or call an ambulance. She then hid. What was she trying to achieve by leaving him?'
Mr Shadwick's sister Tania Rickards said at the time of his death, her family was dealing with the terminal illness of their brother, Kevin, who died months later. She said it was 'beyond comprehension' her brother had been left. In her statement read to court, it was revealed that no one in the family had the chance to say goodbye to Neil before he died. His sister was on the phone to the hospital when he passed away. Ms Rickards said: 'She [Hawkins] rode off without a second thought. She could have come back to see if he was okay or get him help, but she didn't. Neil didn't deserve to be treated and abandoned in this way, nobody does. I believe the world is full of many good people. On January 22, 2023, Kimberley Hawkins was not one of those.'
Sarah Jenkins, defending, said events only occurred after Hawkins had learned Mr Shadwick was unable to pay her. 'There was no premeditation, and she went round the house, and it was only when the issue of payment occurred she uses the word "frustration" herself,' she said.
Miss Jenkins said at the time of the offences, Hawkins was living in a tent in a graveyard and was now remorseful. 'She was a lone female, a drug addict who provided sexual services for payment to fund a Class A drug addiction,' she said.
'No one would choose to live the way she was living at that time. It is going to be a life-long regret, and she wishes if she could turn back time she would.'
Judge Peter Blair KC, the Recorder of Bristol, imposed a six-year sentence for manslaughter and a consecutive six-month term for the other offences. 'It was a freezing cold night in January 2023 when this happened,' the judge said.
'When you drove off, you dragged him for a considerable distance around a minute. It must have been obvious he was there but you turned a blind eye to him. He fell off or become dislodged and you carried on without thought to him. You knew he was vulnerable from your interactions with him. He was left alone without anybody to get help on a freezing night for some three hours before the employees of Tesco arrived for work. He said he was robbed and managed to give your full name.'
