Mobility scooter thief who left man to die in Stroud is jailed

A girl who stole a disabled man’s mobility scooter, dragged him alongside the bottom, and left him for useless has been jailed.

Kimberley Ann Hawkins, 41, pleaded responsible to the manslaughter of Neil Shadwick, 63, in Stroud following the incident in January 2023.

Mr Shadwick’s eldest daughter, Victoria Bentley, mentioned her “extremely susceptible” father should have been “terrified” at being left to die in a grocery store automobile park in sub-zero temperatures.

Hawkins was sentenced at Gloucester Crown Court to 6 and a half years in jail.

Mr Shadwick was discovered unresponsive in a Tesco automobile park on Stratford Road in Stroud on 22 January, when the Met Office had forecast temperatures as little as -6°C in a single day.

CCTV footage confirmed Hawkins and Mr Shadwick arriving on the grocery store to make use of the money machine.

When Mr Shadwick appeared unable to withdraw cash for Hawkins, she grew to become “pissed off” and took his mobility scooter whereas he was nonetheless partially on it.

She dragged him alongside the bottom for slightly below a minute earlier than he ultimately let go, then rode away, leaving him on the bottom.

Mr Shadwick had extreme hypothermia, pneumonia and lung accidents. In the ambulance, all he was in a position to say was “robbed” and “Kim”.

He later died in hospital.

In an announcement, his daughter, Mrs Bentley mentioned it was “horrific” to determine her dad “below such horrible circumstances”.

“Kimberley Hawkins knew by leaving Dad in that automobile park, on a freezing chilly evening, that she was leaving an extremely susceptible man who had no means of speaking as he may barely speak,” Mrs Bentley mentioned.

“He did not have a cellphone and he had no means of getting any assist.

“He should have been terrified realising that he’d been deserted and never figuring out when or if assist would arrive.”