Gran kicked unconscious at funeral brawl calls attacker’s fine ‘an insult’

A grandma who was kicked unconscious at a wake has described her attacker’s sentence as ‘an insult’

Elizabeth Richardson, 54, was beaten as she lay on the ground when a brawl broke out in a pub.

She was set upon by Grant Rankin, 27, amid violence following a funeral for someone they had both worked with.

CCTV footage showed her being beaten on the floor of Greenhills Bar in East Kilbride, Lanarkshire, on April 29, 2019.

Ms Richardson was left with no memory of the incident and has been dealing with anxiety and using antidepressants since.

Grant Rankin avoided a custodial sentence and was given a £1,200 compensation order when he admitted to an assault charge at Hamilton Sheriff Court this week.

His dad Alexander Rankin, 55, walked out of court with a £600 fine for his part in the fracas after admitting a charge of threatening and abusive behaviour.

Ms Richardson said: ‘I am absolutely disgusted with the sentence – sick to my stomach.

‘There is no justice in a compensation order – I lost more than £1,200 in wages when I was unable to work because of the attack.

‘And to him it’s nothing – I wanted community service to teach him a lesson, maybe not a jail sentence – but something to send out a message that you can’t get away with what he did to me.

‘But that’s exactly what’s happened, he’s got away with it.’

Ms Richardson said she had been through ‘three years of hell’ by repeated delays to the court proceedings.

Original guilty pleas made in court in May 2020 were withdrawn prior to sentencing – but later re-entered when CCTV footage was viewed by the accused.

Ms Richardson said: ‘After everything myself and my family have been put through – it’s a total and utter sham, the whole justice system.

‘There is no way what happened to me was a “mistake” – it’s all there as clear as day on the CCTV footage – you don’t kick someone’s head in by mistake.’

She disputed the younger Rankin’s claim in court that he had apologised over the phone and had merely ‘fallen on top’ of the victim.

Ms Richardson said she had ‘never been told’ by her attackers why she was targeted.

Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk.

For more stories like this, check our news page.