'Murder scooter' youth walks free

A teenager who stole a motor scooter that was later used by the killers of Nottingham jeweller Marian Bates, has walked free from court.

Billy Joe Hammond, 19, was sentenced to 21 hours at an attendance centre for offenders after he admitted stealing the Gilera scooter.

Hammond, from Westleigh Road in Broxtowe, was also fined £50 and given seven penalty points after pleading guilty at Nottingham Magistrates Court.

The Broxtowe teenager and a 15-year-old boy had stolen the scooter from outside a house in Kimberley on 2 September.

Stolen goods

The 15-year-old youth, who also pleaded guilty to stealing the scooter before Nottingham magistrates on Thursday, was due to be sentenced by Nottingham Youth Court next week.

The scooter was sold twice before 13 September for a fraction of its value.

The scooter was sold for £50 to 25-year-old Wayne Smith, who later sold it again to 19-year-old Paul Anthony for £200.

Smith, of Bulwell, was ordered to do 80 hours as part of a community punishment order in a separate hearing before Nottingham magistrates.

The court heard the unemployed father-of-three handed himself in to police after watching television reports of the murder of Mrs Bates.

DNA sample

He volunteered fingerprint and DNA samples to officers, after telling them he had been in possession of the scooter that was featured in police appeals.

Smith said he had bought the scooter for £50, knowing it was stolen, before selling it for £200 to Anthony, who is due to be sentenced on Monday.

Magistrates also ordered the 25-year-old to pay a fine of £55 after he admitted handling the stolen scooter.

Anthony said that, by September 13, he had again sold the vehicle for £200 to another unnamed party.

On 30 September, the scooter was used by the killers of Marian Bates to escape from outside her jeweller's shop in Arnold.

Police hope that, ultimately, the vehicle will lead them to the gunman and his accomplice.