Judges say Mohammed Ali Mohamoed is danger to public and raise sentence from 13 years to 18 for Cardiff attack

This article is more than 6 years old

This article is more than 6 years old

A man who attacked a ballet dancer, broke his neck and left him lying in the street has had his sentence increased by the court of appeal after being declared "ruthless, callous and a danger to the public".

Mohammed Ali Mohamoed, 28, was originally jailed for 13 years for assaulting Jack Widdowson on a disused canal towpath in Cardiff.

But three appeal judges have unanimously ruled the sentence was inadequate because the trial judge wrongly thought Mohamoed, an illegal immigrant who lived in Splott, Cardiff, would be automatically deported on completing his sentence.

Lord Justice Pitchford, sitting with Mr Justice Spencer and Mr Justice Stewart, ruled there was no such thing as automatic deportation – and Mohamoed could spend years resisting removal from the UK on the grounds that it would infringe his human rights.

The judge quashed the 13-year term imposed at Cardiff crown court last June and substituted an extended sentence to meet the danger Mohamoed could pose to the public if he was released from prison but not immediately deported.

The judge said: "In our view, so targeted, so ruthless and so callous were the circumstances of this offence that this man quite plainly is a danger to the public."

The appeal court extended the sentence to 18 years, composed of an immediate custodial term of 13 years plus an additional five years on licence.

The overall sentence means that, whenever he is released from prison, Mohamoed will remain under supervision for the full 18-year period, or until he is deported.

He was found guilty of causing grievous bodily harm with intent to Widdowson, then aged 19 and from Somerset, on 5 November 2011. Widdowson, who was an apprentice dancer at the Bern Ballet Company in Switzerland, suffered neck injuries so serious that it was at first thought he would be left paralysed and unable to dance again.

But eight months after the attack he had returned to dancing in what his family called a miracle recovery. His father Dr Julian Widdowson said his "incredible flexibility" may have saved his life.

Widdowson's mobile phone had been stolen and he had been left for dead on the outskirts of Cardiff city centre near East Tyndall Street at 12.45am. He had been visiting his brother who was studying at Cardiff University.

Widdowson's parents have set up a charity called the Dance Again Foundation, which helps other injured dancers access the right support and treatment.

At his trial, Mohamoed admitted stealing Widdowson's phone but claimed someone else must have hurt him.

Lord Justice Pitchford said Mohamoed was smuggled into the UK in June 2008 in the back of a lorry. His asylum claim was unsuccessful, but he illegally remained in the country, living in Cardiff. At first he claimed to have been born in the Palestinian territories, but now says he is of Egyptian origin.

The attorney general welcomed the ruling, saying: "This terrible attack on a promising young ballet dancer could easily have ended his career.

"Mohammed Ali Mohamoed used brutal violence on his victim and left him severely injured and in a paralysed condition on a towpath in Cardiff.

"I am pleased that the court of appeal found Mohammed Mohamoed a dangerous offender and increased his term to an extended sentence of 18 years."