Ribble Valley girl, 15, slams train passengers who watched attack

9:00am Monday 11th April 2011 in Read Photograph of the Author By Emma Cruces, Reporter

ASSAULT VICTIM May Rubery said people hid behind their newspapers ASSAULT VICTIM May Rubery said people hid behind their newspapers

COMMUTERS on a rush-hour train ‘hid behind their newspapers’ as a drunken woman launched an eight-minute assault on a terrified 15-year-old girl.

May Rubery’s stepfather last night said he was disgusted that ‘adults just sat there and watched a young girl being attacked’.

The 17.52 Blackburn to Clitheroe train was packed full of people making their way home from work.

But not one person helped as Yvonne Maynard, 51, pulled the Sabden teenager’s hair, dragged her nails down her back and shouted abuse for eight minutes, a court heard.

The incident appears to have been sparked after Maynard, described in court as ‘extremely drunk’, saw May laughing with friends and mistakenly believed she was the victim of their humour.

May, a Ribblesdale High School pupil, said she was angry that no-one came to her aid.

She said: “I was on the train and my friend made me laugh. Next thing she was screaming ‘Are you laughing at me?’ “I didn’t know what she was going to do.

“I got really scared. She was shouting and saying very strange things then she started calling me names.

“She grabbed me by the arms.

“People were looking at her and at me at first and then some people started to hide behind their newspapers.

Related links

“She started pulling my hair and she was scraping her nails down my arms and legs.

"She had hold of me, shaking and scratching me for around eight minutes, shouting abuse.

"Then she pushed me back down into my seat and I got off at the next station.

“You wouldn’t think that could happen to you on a train, with people around.”

May’s stepfather Paul Barlow outlined his disgust.

“She was very upset about it and you wonder what things are coming to when adults can just sit there and watch a young girl being attacked.

“There are no Good Samaritans left. You would think people would stand up and say something to her, at least take her attention away from the child.”

At Blackburn Magistrates’ Court, Maynard, 51, of Belvedere Road, Salford, pleaded guilty to assault following the incident on September 1.

She was sentenced to 18 weeks in prison suspended for 12 months, made subject to community supervision for 12 months and ordered to pay May £100 compensation.

Peter Wilde, prosecuting, told the court the incident lasted about eight minutes and there was no sign of a guard during the journey.

He said the train, which started its journey in Manchester, was full of people making their way home from work.

Annette Shaw, defending, said Maynard had an alcohol problem and was quite often the subject of ridicule, abuse and violent behaviour by youths on public transport.

She said: “She perceived these young people were going to be cruel to her and she reacted aggressively.”

Comments (16)

9:37am Mon 11 Apr 11

chris283 says...

good job i wernt there people wont get involved any more cause its usally the person whos commiting the crime who presses charges against you like i say good job i wernt there i wont sit back like the rest of the cowards
good job i wernt there people wont get involved any more cause its usally the person whos commiting the crime who presses charges against you like i say good job i wernt there i wont sit back like the rest of the cowards chris283

9:53am Mon 11 Apr 11

MJA says...

This story was run on 20/03/2011. Why are LT repeating it?
This story was run on 20/03/2011. Why are LT repeating it? MJA

10:14am Mon 11 Apr 11

ossy says...

MJA wrote:
This story was run on 20/03/2011. Why are LT repeating it?
It's not repeated this is the court case
[quote][p][bold]MJA[/bold] wrote: This story was run on 20/03/2011. Why are LT repeating it?[/p][/quote]It's not repeated this is the court case ossy

10:26am Mon 11 Apr 11

MJA says...

Strictly speaking, this is the sentencing. She pleaded guilty at the earlier hearing. But a lot of it is repeated.
Strictly speaking, this is the sentencing. She pleaded guilty at the earlier hearing. But a lot of it is repeated. MJA

10:46am Mon 11 Apr 11

useyourhead says...

Maynard obviously uses trains and buses regularly in this condition - ban her from public transport. She is hardly a good advert for getting folk to use the service is she.
Maynard obviously uses trains and buses regularly in this condition - ban her from public transport. She is hardly a good advert for getting folk to use the service is she. useyourhead

12:26pm Mon 11 Apr 11

inbetweener says...

wonder where btp were??????? probably in the office watching dvd's !!!or hiding in other offices on preston station !! really sorry to hear no one helped even if they had notified the guard he could have done something its a sorry state of affairs.
wonder where btp were??????? probably in the office watching dvd's !!!or hiding in other offices on preston station !! really sorry to hear no one helped even if they had notified the guard he could have done something its a sorry state of affairs. inbetweener

1:13pm Mon 11 Apr 11

BjornAganeByka says...

It is hardly surprising that no-one came to the assistance of this young girl.
Thanks to our culture of "human rights before all", people are afraid of getting involved in case THEY end up in court on assault charges. Certainly, restraining a drunken and violent woman would involve physical force of such a nature that the drunk would make a complaint to the police against her "assailant" .
Recent cases show that the would be "have-a-go-hero" ( remember them ) would be arrested, hauled off to the police station, be up before the magistrates and even remanded in custody. AND a spiteful woman would almost certainly throw a complaint of sexual assault in to the mix.
I for one would have have helped the young girl but I'm certain I would also have faced charges for my trouble.
It is hardly surprising that no-one came to the assistance of this young girl. Thanks to our culture of "human rights before all", people are afraid of getting involved in case THEY end up in court on assault charges. Certainly, restraining a drunken and violent woman would involve physical force of such a nature that the drunk would make a complaint to the police against her "assailant" . Recent cases show that the would be "have-a-go-hero" ( remember them ) would be arrested, hauled off to the police station, be up before the magistrates and even remanded in custody. AND a spiteful woman would almost certainly throw a complaint of sexual assault in to the mix. I for one would have have helped the young girl but I'm certain I would also have faced charges for my trouble. BjornAganeByka

1:23pm Mon 11 Apr 11

happycyclist says...

BjornAganeByka wrote:
It is hardly surprising that no-one came to the assistance of this young girl.
Thanks to our culture of "human rights before all", people are afraid of getting involved in case THEY end up in court on assault charges. Certainly, restraining a drunken and violent woman would involve physical force of such a nature that the drunk would make a complaint to the police against her "assailant" .
Recent cases show that the would be "have-a-go-hero" ( remember them ) would be arrested, hauled off to the police station, be up before the magistrates and even remanded in custody. AND a spiteful woman would almost certainly throw a complaint of sexual assault in to the mix.
I for one would have have helped the young girl but I'm certain I would also have faced charges for my trouble.
This is where all the do-gooders, bleeding hearts and human rights apologists have got us.
I wouldn't have helped for all the reasons that BjornAgane makes.
When all the politicians and judges find their balls, I'll look for mine again. But I'm not being turned into a criminal for helping someone else out.
This is a re-hash of the original story and still no mention of where her friend was or what he was doing in the 8 minutes that she was being attacked.
[quote][p][bold]BjornAganeByka[/bold] wrote: It is hardly surprising that no-one came to the assistance of this young girl. Thanks to our culture of "human rights before all", people are afraid of getting involved in case THEY end up in court on assault charges. Certainly, restraining a drunken and violent woman would involve physical force of such a nature that the drunk would make a complaint to the police against her "assailant" . Recent cases show that the would be "have-a-go-hero" ( remember them ) would be arrested, hauled off to the police station, be up before the magistrates and even remanded in custody. AND a spiteful woman would almost certainly throw a complaint of sexual assault in to the mix. I for one would have have helped the young girl but I'm certain I would also have faced charges for my trouble.[/p][/quote]This is where all the do-gooders, bleeding hearts and human rights apologists have got us. I wouldn't have helped for all the reasons that BjornAgane makes. When all the politicians and judges find their balls, I'll look for mine again. But I'm not being turned into a criminal for helping someone else out. This is a re-hash of the original story and still no mention of where her friend was or what he was doing in the 8 minutes that she was being attacked. happycyclist

2:15pm Mon 11 Apr 11

twicki says...

human rights or not you don't sit back you protect the poor girl.
human rights or not you don't sit back you protect the poor girl. twicki

2:33pm Mon 11 Apr 11

britguy says...

Why did her friends not help
Why did her friends not help britguy

2:57pm Mon 11 Apr 11

timeforcommonsense says...

It's pretty much all been said. Sad fact is that no-body wants the hassel of getting involved. Thinking more of themselves than anything else. How would these people have felt if this drunken witch had pushed the girl onto the track resulting in a death whilst they all sat pondering on do I need the stress? What if I get hurt? Society today is full of people who only think of themselves. We are becoming increasingly ignorant and self absorbed. Shame on everyone on that platform, they are only marginally better than the violent drunk bully.
It's pretty much all been said. Sad fact is that no-body wants the hassel of getting involved. Thinking more of themselves than anything else. How would these people have felt if this drunken witch had pushed the girl onto the track resulting in a death whilst they all sat pondering on do I need the stress? What if I get hurt? Society today is full of people who only think of themselves. We are becoming increasingly ignorant and self absorbed. Shame on everyone on that platform, they are only marginally better than the violent drunk bully. timeforcommonsense

5:28pm Mon 11 Apr 11

karolgadge says...

One thing puzzles me about this sad case. There are no comments or details about action taken/not taken by the train operators, presumably Northern Rail.
Why not?
There are numerous posters on stations and in train carriages stating - loud and clear - that abusive behaviour towards Northern staff will not be tolerated. And rightly so.

A statement from Northern Rail would be welcome and I look forward to reading one, in light of the national coverage this story has fostered.
One thing puzzles me about this sad case. There are no comments or details about action taken/not taken by the train operators, presumably Northern Rail. Why not? There are numerous posters on stations and in train carriages stating - loud and clear - that abusive behaviour towards Northern staff will not be tolerated. And rightly so. A statement from Northern Rail would be welcome and I look forward to reading one, in light of the national coverage this story has fostered. karolgadge

6:11pm Mon 11 Apr 11

ste.g says...

chris283 wrote:
good job i wernt there people wont get involved any more cause its usally the person whos commiting the crime who presses charges against you like i say good job i wernt there i wont sit back like the rest of the cowards
me to
[quote][p][bold]chris283[/bold] wrote: good job i wernt there people wont get involved any more cause its usally the person whos commiting the crime who presses charges against you like i say good job i wernt there i wont sit back like the rest of the cowards[/p][/quote]me to ste.g

8:17pm Mon 11 Apr 11

FifeRover says...

This case reminds me of a similar incident that I did get involved in way back in 1971.

I was sitting on the lower deck of a corporation bus onthe Boulevade and waiting for it to depart for Darwen when some of the other people on the bus started shoutng "look at that" and pointing outside at a bus shelter where there were five teenagers about 16 or so kicking the living daylights out of another lad about the same age.

Without thinking any more about it I was off the bus in a flash and ran straight in to the midst of the melee and set about the lot of them with my brolly. I knocked seven bells out of the lot of them and they very quickly disengaged and ran off as fast as they could go. Meanwhile the victim had got to his feet and he just gave me a long look and then he too ran off after them without a single word to me.

I just got back on the bus and resumed my seat, my brolly was just a twisted wreck, and completely ruined. Some of the people on the bus shouted "well done...that showed 'em" or words to that effect, I just turned round and said "yes, but it's more than any of you lot did wasn't it".

It is not just a recent thing this lack of public spiritedness.
This case reminds me of a similar incident that I did get involved in way back in 1971. I was sitting on the lower deck of a corporation bus onthe Boulevade and waiting for it to depart for Darwen when some of the other people on the bus started shoutng "look at that" and pointing outside at a bus shelter where there were five teenagers about 16 or so kicking the living daylights out of another lad about the same age. Without thinking any more about it I was off the bus in a flash and ran straight in to the midst of the melee and set about the lot of them with my brolly. I knocked seven bells out of the lot of them and they very quickly disengaged and ran off as fast as they could go. Meanwhile the victim had got to his feet and he just gave me a long look and then he too ran off after them without a single word to me. I just got back on the bus and resumed my seat, my brolly was just a twisted wreck, and completely ruined. Some of the people on the bus shouted "well done...that showed 'em" or words to that effect, I just turned round and said "yes, but it's more than any of you lot did wasn't it". It is not just a recent thing this lack of public spiritedness. FifeRover

11:49am Tue 12 Apr 11

Gaz M says...

I completely agree with useyourhead a ban from public transport would be the logical solution. It,s no wonder teenagers mock Maynard if she is persistantly leathered, hope passengers in future will help out as it could be their daughter being abused.
I completely agree with useyourhead a ban from public transport would be the logical solution. It,s no wonder teenagers mock Maynard if she is persistantly leathered, hope passengers in future will help out as it could be their daughter being abused. Gaz M

5:25pm Tue 12 Apr 11

happycyclist says...

The LT is running a poll on this, and 71% claim they would intervene if they saw someone being attacked.

Given that nobody on a packed train intervened, the only conclusion I can come to is that most of you who say you would intervene are liars.
The LT is running a poll on this, and 71% claim they would intervene if they saw someone being attacked. Given that nobody on a packed train intervened, the only conclusion I can come to is that most of you who say you would intervene are liars. happycyclist

Comments are closed on this article.

click2find

About cookies

We want you to enjoy your visit to our website. That's why we use cookies to enhance your experience. By staying on our website you agree to our use of cookies. Find out more about the cookies we use.

I agree