Gun support draws fire for campaigner

Published on Sunday 3 April 2005 01:14

A VICTIMS of crime campaigner who voiced his support for a teacher jailed for firing a pellet gun should resign from his post, anti-gun crime groups have claimed.

The groups accused Norman Brennan, director of the Victims of Crime Trust, of "pandering to the media" and adding to victims’ trauma.

The criticisms came after Brennan backed special-needs teacher Linda Walker’s appeal against her six-month sentence, and called for her to be granted immediate bail.

Walker, 48, was jailed for firing at the pavement during a confrontation with a gang of youths outside her home in Urmston, Greater Manchester, last August.

She told police she had received nuisance phone calls abusing her family, her garden shed had been broken into and a car and her garden had been vandalised.

Walker said she thought 16-year-old Nicholas Viollett and 18-year-old Robert McKiernan were the "yobbos" responsible for vandalising her property.

She was found guilty of affray and of possessing a firearm with intent to cause fear and violence. Brennan said Walker had been the victim of "persistent crimes and anti-social behaviour" which had "pushed her beyond the brink".

He argued that the weapon - a Walther CP88 gas-powered pellet pistol - had only been fired at the ground. But yesterday, anti-gun crime groups hit out at his response. Mothers Against Guns vice-chairwoman Michelle Forbes, whose 21-year-old son Leon was shot dead in December 2003, called for Brennan to quit his post.

She said: "Everyone else is working to rid the streets of all weapons and Brennan just throws it all away with his comments. He does not represent victims, he most certainly does not represent me or my son. He should stand down.

"Linda Walker was lucky she didn’t get the five-year mandatory sentence and I don’t think six months is long enough."

Founder of Mothers Against Guns, Lucy Cope, who lost her 22-year-old son Damian when he was shot in July 2002, said

Brennan had contacted many families of gun-crime victims and "pretends to care about them".

"He talks about helping victims and making them promises, but what can you expect from a man who supported Tony Martin when he shot a child in the back."

Brennan said although he could understand the criticism, he stood by his support for Walker because she herself was a victim of crime.