A brutal thug who had to be dragged off his sister by a hero stranger after he viciously attacked her has dodged jail.
Adam Westwood was drunk when he verbally abused his sister and threatened to ‘chuck her on the train track’ after a night out at the pub.
However, the pair were then locked in a ‘furious’ row, where the 22-year-old brother punched his sister seven times and kicked her in her stomach before she collapsed onto the ground.
The violent attack only was diffused thanks to a hero train driver who witnessed the assault and ‘bravely’ stepped in.
This week at Wolverhampton Crown Court a jury heard how the siblings had been drinking in a pub before leaving to catch a train to Wolverhampton from Birmingham New Street station on November 24 2021.
They ‘pushed and shoved’ each other as they clashed before staff were forced to prise them apart and ordered them to travel in separate carriages, according to Birmingham Live.
Westwood’s sister was so upset she began self-harming on the train journey home, prosecutor Katie Fox told the court.
She said: “On arrival in Wolverhampton, she was very anxious not to see the defendant.
“She hid in the toilet to avoid him and checked with train staff to make sure he wasn’t present when she went outside to get a taxi.”
The court heard Westwood, of Hawbush Road, Walsall, had left the station but returned while his sister was waiting for a taxi.
He began ‘abusing’ her, branding her a ‘c***’, before threatening a member of the public and saying “if you don’t f*** off, I will belt you too”.
The convicted burglar punched his sister seven times and kicked her in the stomach after she fell to the ground.
He also told her “I will f****** kill you, I will finish you”.
A train worker spotted the attack and shouted to Westwood “what do you think you’re doing?” before police arrived.
The hero’s ‘public spirited’ actions will now be recognised with a letter from the Crown Prosecution Service or a senior officer from West Midlands Police.
Ms Fox added: “This is a case where he took her to the ground and continued the assault once she was on the ground.”
Westwood’s victim refused treatment at the scene and did not want to go to hospital.
She suffered swelling to her skull, bruising to her elbow and arm, pain in her ribs and lumps to her head.
The woman also experienced a panic attack and was left with a footprint mark on her arm.
But Westwood ‘did not leave it there’ and turned up at her sister’s Black Country home at about 4am.
He armed himself with a hammer and began shouting, making threats and banging on the windows.
The defendant forced his way into the home through a bathroom window and then declared “I will f*****g kill you, I will stab you”.
Westwood then strolled out of the property, throwing his middle fingers in the air, before officers arrested him as he walked along Lichfield Road.
Andrew Wilkins, defending, said Westwood had a ‘long and complicated’ history with his sister.
The attacker had eight previous convictions including common assault, burglary and criminal damage.
Mr Wilkins said: “He knows it is unforgivable what he did and he does not expect forgiveness. He has some growing up to do.”
Recorder Nicholls said Westwood had a ‘chance of rehabilitation’ and handed him a 12-month sentence, suspended for two years.
Sentencing, he said: “You had a furious argument with you sister. You were obviously drunk, as was she, but the fact that you were under the influence of alcohol obviously makes this worse.
“The row started at New Street station. There was pushing and shoving, and indeed, threatening to chuck her on the track, to the extent that security staff had to split the two of you up and insist you travel in separate carriages to Wolverhampton.
“Outside the station, you attacked your sister. It was only the intervention, very courageously, of the man that caused the incident to come to an end.”
Westwood - who appeared via video link from HMP Birmingham on January 28 - admitted assault occasioning actual bodily harm and affray.
He was also made subject to a 21-day alcohol abstinence monitoring requirement, a 30-day rehabilitation activity requirement and told to take part in a thinking skills programme.
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