LONDON: A British judge yesterday handed out a life sentence with a minimum of 18 years in prison for a thief who brutally attacked three sisters from the United Arab Emirates in a London hotel room with a claw hammer.
Drug addict Philip Spence, 33, attacked the tourists as they slept with their children at the four-star Cumberland Hotel on April 6, in an incident that raised concern about the safety of visitors from the Gulf.
Afterwards he made off with iPads, gold jewellery and mobile phones, before dumping the claw hammer near the crime scene.
“You used deliberate and gratuitous violence over what was needed to carry out the robbery,” judge Anthony Leonard said as he passed sentence on Spence, who was found guilty of attempted murder last month.
The Emirati sisters — Ohoud, Khulood and Fatima Al Najja —were sharing adjoining rooms in the hotel and had left their doors open to allow a fourth sister to return later.
Spence crept in and was seen by Khulood shortly before 1.30am, rifling through handbags. His subsequent sustained and ferocious attack left all three women unconscious.
He hit Ohoud, 34, so hard that her skull split open. She now has only five percent brain function, has lost one eye and cannot speak.
“It is nothing short of a miracle combined with the finest medical attention that led to Ohoud surviving the attack,” the judge said.
AFP
