Bodyguard loses train scrap appeal

A former lance corporal who grabbed a ticket inspector round the throat and threatened to ‘snap’ his arm has lost his appeal against conviction.

Ian Paxton, 33, was found guilty of assaulting Vince Fitz-Simonds on the Piccadilly line towards Heathrow at City of London Magistrates’ Court in March.

Mr Fitz-Simonds had approached Paxton and asked to inspect his ticket on 20 August last year.

After explaining how he used his credit card to tap in, Paxton refused to scan his card on Mr Fitz-Simonds’ reader.

‘He said to me “I’m not putting my card on your machine”,’ Mr Fitz-Simonds said.

‘Sometimes people are a bit wary of using bank cards, but it is what we get every day, people saying “Oh, I’m not sure”, but our job is to put their minds at rest and allow them to validate their ticket.

‘It would need to be validated; whether it’s an Oyster Card or a bank card.’

The inspector, wearing full uniform in the witness box as he did on the train, told Paxton he would need to impose a penalty fare.

He invited him to step off the Tube at the next stop after handing over his driving licence to get it sorted.

‘He said to me he wouldn’t be getting off the train and that I would have to travel to Heathrow Airport with him,’ he added.

‘He got up out of his seat and came right up close into my face.

‘I thought he was possibly going to headbutt me so I turned away from him. Then he lunged at me and grabbed me by the throat in sort of a throat-hold.

‘He also said to me “Give me back my driving licence”. He tried to put my arm up my back and told me he’d break my arm, saying “I’ll snap it”.

‘I was very distressed. It’s the most serious thing that’s happened to me in 25 years [on the job].’

Mr Fitz-Simonds said Paxton’s ‘moves’ left him with the impression ‘it wasn’t an idle threat’.

‘Just by his moves I thought he could carry out what he was threatening to do,’ he added.

‘It was a crazy situation. I was in fear of anything he could do to me.’

But Neil Matthews, representing Paxton, told Judge John Dodd, QC, sitting with JPs at the Old Bailey: ‘The defence say that on the evidence before the court your lordship and your colleagues cannot be sure.

‘The evidence you have is one person’s words against the other. There are only two parties who have given evidence who were on the train- the compliant and Mr Paxton.

‘There is no CCTV. The first thing Mr Paxton said was I want CCTV. The first he says is let’s look at the CCTV and everything will be fine.

‘As far as the complainant goes the defence say it is troubling that he is able to be quite clear but at some points he simply relies on “I cannot remember”.

Paxton served in the Royal Logistics Core for nine years from January 2003 to September 2012, seeing tours in Iraq and Afghanistan before moving into the close protection business.

He lost his appeal against conviction for assault by beating but Judge Dodd, reduced Paxton’s sentence from a 12-month community order to a fine of just £150.

Judge Dodd said: ‘The court has come to the view that Mr Fitz-Simonds was a truthful witness, that the account he gave was accurate and therefore the evidence he gave was accurate.

‘Sadly, we were not able to come to the same conclusion with Mr Paxton. We were not able to come to the conclusion that his evidence on the central issue in this case was reliable.’

Paxton was fined £750 in 2011 for affray at Bulford Court Martial Centre and he was convicted of damaging property in 2003, the court was told.

He now works abroad as a close protection officer where the SIA, a qualification required to work in the industry in the UK, is not needed.

Paxton, of Fels Avenue, Worcester, was also told to pay £300 in legal costs.