A man who threatened to kill a bus inspector from National Express West Midlands has been sent to prison. His name is Gurinter Dhanjal. He approached the inspector while the inspector was dealing with a problem at Smallbrook Queensway in Birmingham city center on June 8th this year.
Dhanjal scared the inspector by saying he would hit him on the head with a hammer. He also took out a knife that was six inches long from his bag when he got on a bus. When the inspector questioned him, Dhanjal said he would stab him to death.
After leaving the bus, Dhanjal went to other National Express staff members and told them he would find out where the inspector lived and stab him. But the police came quickly and arrested Dhanjal.
Dhanjal had been in trouble with the law before. He had 28 previous convictions for 68 crimes. The judge at Birmingham Crown Court sentenced him to 12 months in prison on July 7th. He admitted to behaving threateningly and having a knife.
The judge said the crimes were worse because Dhanjal had already broken two community orders. The judge also put a Serious Violence Protection Order (SVPO) on Dhanjal.
The SVPO will last for two years after Dhanjal gets out of prison. It means he has to tell the police where he lives. The police can also search him in public places anytime to make sure he doesn’t have a weapon.
Mark Heffernan, who is in charge of safety for National Express in the UK, said they work closely with the Safer Travel police team. They want to stop crime and bad behavior on their buses. He said hundreds of thousands of people travel safely on their buses every day, and they won’t allow anyone to disrespect the right of people to work and travel without being afraid of getting attacked or intimidated.
