For the attention of Mrs SB Who claims to be Stephen’s girl friend who was all full of smiles toward me in court on the day. Yes you guessed it I’m the victim and thought that I should have my say about this once and for all I would like to state a few facts here right now about your comments. First I was not even in Yates I have not been there since it was taken over from being the old GPO I went there many years ago on its opening day and looked in a couple of times but did not like it not my kind of seen at all so I have not been there for many years on that night I was actually coming from the Bugle pub and after leaving my uncle at the bus stop I was going to the Walk About wich is behind Yates but as the CC TV clearly that was the alley way in between from friar street. I really don’t know what you mean about my uncle saying that I was having a go at your boy friend because he didn’t say that at all he simply said there was a miss understanding about me and my boss at the time in the bugle about a job and before that we had a miss understanding about the death of my grandmother in pavloves dog around 6PM that was all resolved and we continued the evening in the Bugle after which we both left to go to the bus stop and my uncle went home leaving me to make my own way home “so in fact my uncle has never actually seen your boyfriend or me ever talking to him in anyway”. Oh but your boy friend may possibly have been at the Bugle for a short time of course as now I have seen his photo I do recognize him from some time in the past before trying to sell stuff in the bugle but I don’t recall him being there that night. As you can see in the CCTV Stephen tries to show me something I instinctively look down then he punches me leading to all the rest of it. And yes I agree not all the CCTV is shown what I saw in the court is that he tries to show me something carrying a big black bag but I am shaking my head to say no then I am the one that turns my back and walks away but then he calls me back and yes I stupidly go back giving him the opportunity “strange what we do with a couple of drinks in our belly”. The black bag is the same black bag he grabs in this CCTV before giving chase to another person threatening him with do you want some as well that was the university lad that called him off and was also one of the only 5 witnesses in my favour not agains me in anyway that was how your boyfriend lost his shoe leading to the DNA evidence. Also there were no comments from witnesses from the Yates bar as there was no witnesses from the Yates bar other than possibly the door men and parsers by coming over to see what the hell was going on outside. So I really don’t understand what you are talking about Yates for I was not there. There was no CCTV in Yates the only CCTV that was shown in court was that in the alley way on the way to the walk about from Friar Street of which is shown on this website. I’m wondering if you have the right guy in the CCTV that was shown in the court on the day as I was the one that initially turned my back and walked away in the alley not Stephen just in case you don’t know he was the one doing all the kicking and punching by the way. I did not see your boyfriend all that night to be horrible or bullying I was in no way being abusive or invading his space in any way I was invited into his space for one reason only to take my wallet by any means even if it meant he had to physically harm to do it that bit is missing from this Cut CC TV Not anything else. I was not with loads of friends as you suggest I was only with my uncle that night in the Bugle then he went home after that I was completely on my own and nowhere to be seen in Yates. I am disgusted that you can accuse me of being prejudice against people from Birmingham or anywhere else for that matter it is not in my nature at all to be that kind of person if you really new me then you would know that I am a very quite person and I keep myself to myself I was brought up that way I do not condone that kind of view and behaviour from any of them kind of small minded people and have never in my years been involved in that kind of behaviour in anyway I would never even dream of it and I am very supportive of people who are in that kind of predicament and am also very sympathetic to people that are less fortunate as myself. I also have no history of drugs or alcohol abuse or any criminal record of which I am very proud off in this kind of society and way of living to make ends meet these days. Also I do not understand the part where you talk about government funding or something I guess you mean Benefits well I would not be on benefits if this had not have happened from no fault of my own all the things what you say in your comments are not true and did not happen that way at all as I was not even there other than in the alley way to the walk about at the wrong time completely on my own so there was no friends around me at all. Fact is that I was not in Yates as you suggest i was not with loads of mates at anytime that evening at all I had not seen or met or spoken to your boyfriend at any time that evening other then when he stopped me in the alley way I would not ever have been abusive and threatening or bullying in anyway to him or anyone from Manchester or in fact no matter where they had come from if anything I would have been sympathetic toward him if I new about his predicament it is completely ludicrous that you would suggest anything else. I don’t know what your boyfriend has told you about what happened that night but if this is what he is telling you then there is no evidence to what he is saying to be true in any way other than simply taking his word for it I guess. In reference to how well your boyfriend is behaving in prison today I am glad that he is now doing so well and has become a model prisoner and even taken on the role of being a councillor as such for others but looking at his history as is in this report he only served a mere 2 years out of 7 years before so I guess he was being a model very well behaved prisoner then as well to earn the privilege of such an early release maybe as he can be so well behaved while serving his time this could be put to some use for the benefit to him and everyone else perhaps it would do him good to stay there.

Now on a lighter note: Oh I would like to say I do have to be honest I think the wallet was empty i.e. no cash as I only drew £50 out that night and I have checked the bank to make sure and I did only draw £50 out that night had nothing in cash before but still had £30 left in my back pocket when I got home so if he wasn’t so intent on getting my wallet he would have found the £30 cash in my back packet. I have got a habit of stuffing change in my back pocket you see instead of my Wallet hmm lucky I did this time. Well putting this all aside I would like to thank you very much for your assistance in finding Stephen I know without your help as reading police told me it would have been very difficult to find him even with his DNA. Your help was well appreciated.

   If there is one thing the media does well it is how they bend stories to achieve responses! Here is mine and you are welcome to add what you wish!

Cinderella? Scarface? Who is he? According to some of you he is the ‘scum’ who should be put in a cell, with a big guy and left to rot there for the rest of his life! He was a benefit scrounging drug addict who should be sent to Afganistan for target practise or better still send him to China where they would stick a bullet in his head! Further more, he had a previous record, so is anyone surprised that he committed yet another offence? lets not forget the comment of one other who says his next attack will be to ‘KILL’ . If you have seen the CCTV footage, read the article and of course seen that wonderful picture, (I thought they only airbrushed to make one look better), how could you be expected to say anything less!

Now don’t get me wrong, I am all for if you get 5 years then you should do 5 years, if its life then to me this should mean till death. But I need to fill in some gaps and add on some other information to complete Ms Slater story.

Firstly, where you aware that the CCTV footage has been shortened to that seen in court? In fact, prior to the attack the ‘victim’ is seen still badgering Stephen and initially Stephen is seen turning his back and walking away! Where did that bit of video go, would it have made any difference to the readers train of thought? No. Why? Because the attack itself was awful and unjustifiable. Now how about witnesses in the Yates bar? Why were there no comments from them, there were many in the bar that night? The ‘Victim’ (according to those many) was seen intimidating, even bullying, Stephen for a good few hours just because he was from Birmingham. In fact the victims own uncle was surprised that Stephen had not reacted sooner than he did, he made a statement to the police saying so, I wonder why that was not pointed out. I cant ever imagine saying I would not be surprised if someone did to one of mine what Stephen did to his nephew! But why did his uncle say this? Because he too witnessed the way his nephew was behaving that day and although it may not be the norm, sometimes there are codes of practice that some people live their lives by in as much a way that others do the law! If you understand ‘do the crime then do the time‘ (which I am sure many of you do) maybe then you can try to understand that some people (like it or not) have boundaries that you should not go beyond without expecting some sort of repercussion! Stephens victim was not impartial to this, and I say this quite clearly, in as much as I do not condone violence, right or wrong, he was not completely innocent himself!

Scarface? Stephen was a young lad when some thug decided to smash a bottle into his face nearly killing him, he was indeed a victim! To use this as some sort of label insinuating that he called himself this is nothing further from the truth. For Stephen this has always been a discriminative feature that others indeed would use for their own purpose. Stephen is a 30 year old recovering addict. He did not subsidise alcohol for drugs as mentioned in the article, in fact he will openly admit that he could not and can not ever again trust himself with either poison. He can never drink again because alcoholics are selfish and unpredictable and it is then he would most likely use drugs. It is no secret how low people go when they have addictions and for the recovering addict it has to be one of their biggest fears.

Previous offences? Yes, but after his release in 2003 he rebuilt his life, started a family, worked 3 jobs and sometimes worked 7 days a week! Stephen thrived on this and stayed away from all substances for a very long period.

Stephen was on that road to destruction but he was and is not evil. After the death of his mother he let his guard down and slowly reintroduced his soul back to the black hole. When he was sitting in Yates that day, to him he never had a care in the world, he went in to get drunk and come home to sleep it off! Now through his own doing he is sitting in a cell, without his family around him and his children are without their father, whom I would also like to add do not use government funding to provide for them in his absence. He has not only let us down but also himself. For anyone who is interested as soon as he was admitted he regained control of his life and after graduating from various drug and alcohol programmes has become a peer counsellor for others in despair! He receives various counselling and I am personally very proud of him. Who am I? His forever supporting fiancée.

   I am the long term girlfriend of Stephen and although neither he or I could ever condone what he has done I think you should try speaking to the person who wrote this report and who decided only to show the cctv footage from where Stephen attacked him. This report was biast and again I will add (I DO NOT CONDONE ANY TYPE OF VIOLENCE) The guy who was attacked had been absolutely awful towards Stephen in Yates including intimidating him and being verbally abusive with his gang of friends around him, Stephen was on his own in the bar. Stephen did not follow him, The VICTIM followed Stephen. I challenge someone to contact N Slater to speak to the victims uncle who she failed to report had said in police reports that he was not surprised his nephew got challenged back and was even reported saying words along the line of 'he deserved it'. The attack was awful, with that I agree but had you just lost your mother would you have been in the best of moods? As for his drug abuse, this was not replaced with alcohol, Ms Slater should have been listening closly. Stephen has a problem with both drugs and alcohol and has always been aware that he can not get too complacent. The 2 go hand in hand but he had been clean for several years up until his mother die. In that time he was raising a family, worked 7 days a week and had 3 jobs, he was not out robbing or beating up innocent people. He will continue to do that on his release too. I fully understand how people can look at the disgusting picture they managed to dig out of Stephen, watch a shortened version of the cctv footage, and read a one sided story and come to the conclusions many of you have but whether or not you like it, Stephen was a victim too!!!

   How did they catch the man using a shoes DNA? I am surprised that they have not caught a cow rather than this inncoent man (or perhaps I should read the report rather than just the headline?)

   I agree with Les add the previous sentence that he did not serve and I do so hope that when he is in his cell (with a very big fellow prisoner) he does not feel his space is invaded !!!!

   Whitespirit, don't worry, there is and they will.

   Should have been sentenced in China. For that type of beating he gave that person he would have in prison for life or may be a bullet in the back of the head that would be more fitting for that type of crime.

   It's amazing what things people will excuse if they are the one perpetrarting the atrocities isn't it?

Sometimes I truely hope there is a god so some people will have to face it one day and account for their lies and for their actions.

Unfortunately there isn't.

   Les Miserables.....good idea!! Mavdo........spot on.

The courts should take into account that the difference between murder/manslaughter and a case where the victim doesn't actually die is largely down to luck and the skill of the medics. Attemted murder/GBH should be much more severely punished than it is currently. looking at this oik, he ought and his record, he ought not to be out of prison for at least 10 years!

   Mavdo, I agreed with your comments except for the part where you state: "2 years is neither enough punishment, nor enough time for treatment of such a mental disorder."

Who says he has a mental disorder? In fact, very few people with 'mental disorders' commit crimes. Mental disorder and crime do not, in any way, go hand in hand.

He is just an evil idiot who needs to be locked up for his entire life - no rehab will ever help him. He will kill, no doubt about it.

   Yeah right, spoken by a man thats been down range of the bad guys.

   Yeah right, getting their hands dirty and their pockets full by killing civilians whilst drunk, doing what they did to a US military arms depot and the weapons therein and privitasing war.

Brave men indeed. And those a tthe top are the bravest of them all. LOL (if it wasn't so sad anyway)

   Apart from on the benifit scrounge whats the scumbag doing in Reading.Agree Nimrod he should be sent out to afganistan but as target pratice.Mind you he'd proberly run a mile cowerdly bullies like that do.

   You must be talking about XI (zee) services LLC, thank God there are still men out there with the "huevos" to get their hands dirty.

   Les, that's a great shout mate, adding the previous unfinished sentence to the new one.