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Thug attacked woman with a samurai sword
A THUG attacked and severely injured a woman with a Samurai sword after she refused to let him into her home.
A THUG attacked and severely injured a woman with a Samurai sword after she refused to let him into her home.Craig Close, from Orchard Walk, Yaxley, Peterborough, confronted Ann Johnson on her doorstep in the early hours after an earlier disagreement with her son.
He "demanded" to see her son, who was asleep upstairs and when Mrs Johnson refused and tried to shut the door, he "lunged forward with the sword".
Mrs Johnson sustained a serious wound to her hand after trying to guard against the blow from the weapon in March last year.
In trying to protect her face, she receiving a deep wound in the space between thumb and forefinger.
Thirty-six-year-old Close was jailed indefinitely for public protection at Northampton Crown Court in March after he was convicted of wounding with intent and possessing an offensive weapon.
The open-ended sentence is almost identical to a life term and means Close would not be freed until the Parole Board is convinced he no longer poses a danger to society.
He was ordered to serve at least eight years behind bars before he could even ask to be freed.
But that was reduced to six years today by Appeal Court judges.
Lord Justice Richards, sitting with Mr Justice Jack and Judge Michael Findlay Baker QC at the court in London, said Close had rightly received the open ended jail term, given a criminal record which included previous offences of wounding with intent.
However, he ruled that the eight-year minimum term was too long, and reduced it to six years.
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Saturday 26 May 2012
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