A BORDON youth locked up indefinitely after committing two violent offences failed to overturn his potentially life-long sentence last Thursday. Joseph Brian Williams, 19, of Loweswater Gardens, pleaded guilty in November last year at Winchester Crown Court to robbery. He was given an indefinite sentence of Imprisonment for Public Protection (IPP) and ordered to serve a minimum of three years before he could even apply for parole. An IPP works in the same way as a life sentence and those serving one are only released once they have convinced the Parole Board they are no longer a danger to the public. Last Thursday at London's Court of Appeal, Williams' lawyers argued against the imposition of an IPP, and also challenged the minimum term as "manifestly excessive". Top judges heard that, although the teenager had armed himself with a weapon on each occasion, he had used them to threaten violence rather than inflict physical harm. However, Lord Justice Rix, sitting with Sir Richard Curtis and Mr Justice Ramsay, dismissed the appeal. Lord Justice Rix said that Williams had left both victims psychologically damaged, and said the crown court judge was entitled to find that he posed a threat of serious future harm. The judge added that Williams could have no complaint with a minimum term of three years given the serious nature of his offending. On October 25 last year, Williams went into a shop near his home and threatened a woman working there with an eight-inch knife, and demanded she open the safe. When she couldn't - after pleading for her life - he made off with cigarettes. As a result of the incident, said Lord Justice Rix, Williams' unnamed victim has become a virtual prisoner in her own home, scared even to leave a door unlocked. The court also heard that Williams had been released from a four-year sentence just five months previously, following an incident at the home of a woman, whom he burst in on wielding a claw hammer. After grabbing her breasts, demanding money for drugs and saying that he wanted to have sex with her, Williams' intended victim managed to run off. Lord Justice Rix said that Williams, who had 24 convictions relating to 69 other offences, had an alcohol problem and money he made from his life of crime was spent on drink.
