Posted on 09/15/2002 12:59:41 AM PDT by The KG9 Kid
Howard's wife tells of mugging ordeal
By Laura Peek
THE wife of Michael Howard, the Shadow Chancellor, yesterday described how she was thrown into a gutter by muggers who wrenched her engagement ring from her finger.
Sandra Howard, a former model, said she was left shaken by the attack outside the couples £3 million home in Pimlico, Central London.
Mrs Howard, 62, blamed escalating street crime in London for the attack and said that muggings had become frighteningly common.
She said that she had been targeted because she was a woman alone in the dark.
Mrs Howard said: It was 11pm and I had parked the car 100 yards from the house when two guys jumped me. I suddenly found myself on the ground with someones hands over my ears and mouth so I could not shout.
They said if I did not shout they would not harm me. Then they tried to get my rings off but at first they could not pull them off because they have been on my fingers for 10 or 20 years.
They did eventually get them off with a lot of pulling.
Her husband, the former Home Secretary, was inside the house at the time but was unaware of what was happening. Mrs Howard was left with bruised hands and was shoved to the ground by her assailants.
Police are hunting two men who are believed to have carried out another mugging on a 75-year-old woman an hour later on Monday.
Mrs Howard said that she would not have looked like an obvious target: her car was an old Ford and she was wearing old clothes because she had been helping her daughter to move flats.
I must have looked like the original bag lady, she said. I do not think I was singled out. It was just opportunists who saw a woman alone in a place where there were not many people around and that was fairly dark. It has become frighteningly common on the streets of London.
Mrs Howard lost her engagement ring, an eternity ring and her handbag to the muggers.She said that the bag contained a watch of great sentimental value which had belonged to her mother who died recently.
When the men ran off, Mrs Howard got to her feet and staggered to her house, where her husband called the police.
Mr Howard, 60, said: It was very shocking. I was very relieved that she was not hurt. I know only too well that it is sadly not uncommon.
He said that his family had been victims of street crime on three other occasions recently.
Their daughter, Larissa, was mugged outside her South London flat three months ago, had her mobile phone stolen at the Notting Hill Carnival in August and her bicycle cut from railings.
Mr Howard criticised the Governments headline-grabbing initiatives on street crime and said more needed to be done, including better street lighting and reform of the early release scheme for offenders.
Mrs Howard said: It is sad that you cannot feel that you can park outside your house at 11pm. I felt more frustration than fright. I think I was lucky not to get a parting kick in the stomach as many people do.
The Howards have been married for more than 20 years. It is Mrs Howards fourth marriage. Her first husband, the jazz pianist Robin Douglas-Home, committed suicide after a failed affair with Princess Margaret.
In the late 1950s and 1960s Mrs Howard, then Sandra Paul, was a famous model in London.
She is the latest in a series of high-profile crime victims.
The actress Joan Collins said this month that she was leaving London because she no longer felt safe. Her eldest daughter, Tara Newley, was mugged for her £7,000 Cartier watch in Notting Hill last year.
The daughter of disgraced former Tory minister Jonathan Aitken, Alexandra, 22, was mugged by a gang of four youths in July.
In March, thieves attempted to snatch a £10,000 diamond necklace from the entertainer Liza Minnelli as she waited at traffic lights in a chauffeur-driven Mercedes.
Therefore, it is wrong to say that Michael Howard and his cronies are responsible for making the British people defenceless against violent criminals. Their policies were just an extension of an old government bias against the civilian ownership of firearms. It is an offence in Britain to carry any sort of implement that could be used as an offensive weapon. That includes objects like metal pipes and coshes, and of course, airguns, tasers, knives, pepper sprays, CS gas etc.
The British government does not care about protecting the lives of its subjects from criminals, it sees all of its subjects as little better than criminals. It just wants to protect itself from its subjects. Its philosophy regarding gun and weapon control can be summarised by this quote from a famous statist thinker:
"The first thing you have to do is disarm the people. A disarmed public can't fight back."
Adolf Hitler
Oh, by the way, now the British government is debating licensing airguns!
Concerned about the easy availability of guns in our society?
Alarmed about the "gun nuts" and other freedom wackos the government allows to run loose?
Wish the government would just repeal the Second Amendment and confiscate all the guns because you believe sensible people shouldn't suffer because of some idiotic notion about some antiquated right?
While we can't take the guns away from the people, we CAN take the people (or at least SOME of them) away from their guns.
At CAMP GUNFREE, we have created an atmosphere of near-total tranquility where you and your family will experience the benefits of a GUN FREE environment.
Each of our camps is a gated community designed to keep guns away from camp guests. Firmly enforced security measures ensure that these dangerous and destructive devices are kept outside. Each camp boasts 24 hour, 7 day a week sentries and state-of-the-art enclosure systems, guard dogs, trenches and surveillance equipment to absolutely GUARANTEE that no firearms enter the facility. Rigidly controlled access ensures that no guns can ever be smuggled in.
No cost has been spared to ensure that Camp GunFree remains gun free.
All camp members are given distinctive uniforms to distinguish them from any gun-toting barbarians who might attempt to evade our security measures. Each camp member is also assigned a distinctive ID number to ensure that only the right people are allowed within the camp.
The current headlines prompt us to remind you that there has NEVER been a shooting by a student in any of the camp schools and we can GUARANTEE that there never will be!!
For more information, call 1-800-GUNFREE
OR visit our new website at
http://www.privategunsareabadthingandwe'llseethatyouaresafe.batf.gov
(This idea from a pamphlet originally created by The Minnesota Center for Individual Liberty, PO Box 32170, Minneapolis, MN 55432-0170)
The 1689 Bill of Rights states: 'That the subjects which are Protestants may have arms for their defence suitable to their conditions and as allowed by law;'
There was never any absolute right to bear arms in Britain, as there is in the USA, since the 'law' in Britain changes from year to year depending on the government's political agenda. The first round of modern British gun controls were brought in after the Russian revolution, because the government was worried that there might be a Communist insurrection.
Then a Libertarian must be a conservative that's been mugged by the police.
Mugged by conservative cops enforcing a liberal law against the natural right to self-defense, for instance.
:]
Never. It's a stupid law, done in reaction to one psycho at Dunblane.
Oh, BTW, are you a pro or anti monarchy?
Pro. Her Majesty is better than having an elected President as head of state.
Regards, Ivan
Diamonds are not worthless. It has been done for years. A pair of sidecutters will nip the diamond off without the wearer being aware that it is gone.
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