BEHIND BARS: The criminals jailed this week at Bradford Crown Court

A VICIOUS “loan shark” was jailed for ten years for stamping on a vulnerable woman’s chest and threatening to chop off her head with a butcher’s meat cleaver.

The victim suffered a life-threatening fractured rib and punctured lung but was too afraid to seek help for two days.

Daniel Geddes was convicted by a jury at Bradford Crown Court of a Section 18 grievous bodily harm attack on the slightly-built and vulnerable woman after extorting money from her.

Geddes, 45, of Rosemary Close, Rastrick, Brighouse, declined to attend court from prison the day of sentence and was jailed in his absence by the Recorder of Bradford, Judge Richard Mansell QC, who addressed him as if he was standing in the dock.

He said Geddes had been convicted by the jury of the attack on March 5 on “the most compelling evidence.”

He had been ripping off the vulnerable crack cocaine addict for months. She had started borrowing small sums of money off him to buy her drugs, letting him smoke some of them.

Judge Mansell rejected Geddes’ claim that he wasn’t back on crack cocaine, making him “desperate, manipulative, out of control and violent.”

 “You saw her as a meal ticket and added extortionate interest to the monies you lent her, taking her overall debt to between £1,400 and £2,400,” he said.

A few days before the attack, Geddes sent her an abusive and menacing text message. He falsely believed that she was scheming against him and threatened that she would lose an eye.

“On the day of the offence, and for days beforehand, you had become increasingly desperate about getting her to repay this debt you had extortionately created by your loan shark style interest rates, which you knew she had no chance of repaying. You had effectively trapped her in a cycle of debt from which she had no chance of escaping,” Judge Mansell said.

Geddes set upon the woman as she was walking from a friend’s house.

She pleaded with him as he threw her to the ground, kicked her and then stamped twice with full force on to the side of the body.

He then pulled out a butcher’s meat cleaver and held it above his head, demanding that she show her neck.

“A clear threat to cut her head off or maim her as you had threatened to do days earlier when telling her she would lose an eye,” Judge Mansell said.

Geddes then grabbed her leg as if to chop at her ankle before running off.

The woman didn’t seek medical help for two days because she was too afraid to alert the police.

She was struggling to breathe and needed emergency hospital treatment.

Judge Mansell said that Geddes, who defended himself in court after dispensing with his legal team, had made a futile attempt to pull the wool over the jury’s eyes by twisting and misrepresenting some of the evidence.

He had previous convictions for housebreaking, assault and making a threat to kill.

Because it’s a specified offence of violence, Geddes will serve two thirds of the ten-year jail term behind bars.

An indefinite restraining order protects the victim and two other women from Geddes in the future.

A would-be robber who seized a taxi driver by the throat and demanded money after luring him into a late-night trap was jailed for 32 months.

Daniel Mortimer booked the Access Private Hire vehicle to arrive at his then home in Crag Road, Shipley, then launched the attack, Bradford Crown Court heard.

He opened the driver’s door, seized the cabbie round the throat and repeated: “Give me the money.”

When the driver managed to get his vehicle into gear and it rolled forwards, Mortimer kicked him in the stomach, prosecutor Emma Downing said.

He finally let go when the taxi pulled away. The driver rang his firm and the police were immediately alerted.

Mortimer, 32, of Pemberton Drive, Shearbridge, Bradford, pleaded guilty to assault with intent to rob shortly before midnight on June 2 last year.

The court heard that the taxi driver could have sped off when Mortimer was hanging on to his cab door but he chose not to, fearing he could be flung under the wheels and seriously hurt.

The victim sustained pain to his throat and stomach in the attack, Miss Downing said.

Mortimer had a previous conviction for assault with intent to rob in Bradford’s Peel Park. His other 18 convictions included assault by beating, possession of an offensive weapon, robbery and matters of dishonesty.

His barrister, Gerald Hendron, said in mitigation that he had serious mental health problems and had been offence free for five years.

He was heavily in debt at the time and being exploited by others for money.

Mortimer was drinking to excess and using drugs. He had no memory of committing the attempted robbery because of the alcohol he had consumed that night.

He now had a full-time mental health worker and was taking fewer drugs.

But Recorder Abdul Iqbal QC said vulnerable people who worked alone at night providing a public service must be protected by the courts.

Mortimer booked the taxi in a targeted attempt to rob the driver and waited nearby on a wall.

He was wearing his hood up when he opened the driver’s door, grabbed him round the throat and demanded money.

The victim tried to close the door but he was restricted by his seatbelt, Recorder Iqbal said.

Mortimer then kicked him in the stomach after the taxi had rolled forward.

He had limited insight into his offending and the offence was aggravated by his previous convictions.