AN ATTENTION-SEEKING Rugby man staged a protest by climbing onto the cage over the footbridge at the town’s railway station – causing disruption which cost £2million.
Despite being on bail for spraying police officers with illegal CS gas, Saul Linton was again granted bail and went on to stage a rooftop protest, hurling chunks of mortar at the police.
The 25-year-old of Selside, Brownsover, was jailed for a total of four years and 11 months by a judge at Warwick Crown Court after pleading guilty to a string of offences.
They included possessing a prohibited firearm, using a firearm with intent to resist arrest, assaulting police officers, obstructing the railway, causing a public nuisance, and theft.
Prosecutor Katie Fox said in February last year police officers went to Linton’s home to arrest another person who was believed to be there. Linton sprayed CS gas and became violent when arrested injuring officers
When Linton was later interviewed he apologised for the injuries, but denied using the spray on the officers, saying someone had brought 200 canisters to the house, and he had tested one of them inside.
He was granted bail, and on June 30 the police had a call to say there was a problem on the footbridge over the line at Rugby railway station.
They arrived to find Linton on top of the cage which covers the bridge, and when he was told to come down, he refused and said he was ‘staging a protest.’
Linton shuffled along the cage until he was directly over the track, where he refused to move, triggering a four-hour stand-off before the fire service cut a hole in the cage and he climbed through.
As a result of his actions the power to the line had to be cut, resulting in 43 trains being fully or partly cancelled, one of which had a medical emergency on it and an ambulance had to attend, and compensation payments for the disruption totalled £2million.
Linton was again granted bail, and in November he stole a dirt track bike after pushing one of the owner’s friends off it while they were riding it on land near Avon Mill Lane in Rugby.
A few days later on November 7 he climbed onto the roof of a terraced house in Mill Road, opposite Rugby police station, and began shouting and refusing to come down.
Twelve officers were needed to keep the road clear and to divert traffic as Linton dislodged the chimney and hurled lumps of mortar at them, before coming down of his own accord after four hours.
Miss Fox added Linton had ‘a lengthy list of previous convictions,’ was subject to a suspended sentence of offences including aggravated vehicle taking.
Caroline Harris, defending, said Linton described himself as a career criminal who wanted to stop.
She added the incidents on the railway bridge and the roof were reactions to difficulties Linton was having at the time following his decision to stop drinking.
Jailing Linton, the judge said the use of the CS gas on the officers was the most serious offence, for which he jailed Linton for three years and nine months.
“You were bailed, and on bail you carried out attention-seeking behaviour at Rugby railway station. Plainly this was planned, and plainly it was intended to cause maximum disruption.”
