My dad (Melvin Winters) had an encounter with someone we know as Tat.

Tat come to the drivers side of the door, where my dad was sat, and took the keys out the ignition. He then put a needle of bleach to my dad’s neck and said to my dad “Melvin, give me your fuckin bracelet. Smell the needle Melvin its got bleach in it.”. While holding the needle to dads neck, he noticed Tat also had a hammer in his waist band (which isn't unusual for Tat) so there was no way out of this and he couldn't just drive off. 

Scared he was going to be injected with a dirty needle of bleach, dad took off the bracelet and gave it to him. Dad then ran Tat over. The first hit, caused Tat to hit the bonnet and threw him on the ground. Then in rage, dad went at him again. This hit, caused Tat to only hit the wind mirror. My dad’s partner at the time then got out the car to retrieve my dad’s bracelet.

My dad failed to take accountability of what he did (was advised by solicitors to not place himself at the scene), causing him then to be found guilty of attempted murder and also robbery. Tat stood in Crown Court and said my dad robbed him of a gold bracelet. Anyone who knows dad, knows he owes gold bracelets and i even had a receipt as i was the one who brought dad’s bracelet. The receipt was shown in court but “was not enough to prove it belonged to my dad”. 

10th February, my dad was up for sentencing. In preparation i received 18 character references showing my dad’s true light. He's a good, hardworking man, he’s a plumbing and heating engineer, he opened a boxing gym, a true family with a heart of gold. My dad also wrote a letter to the courts explaining this is out of character for him and he's remorseful for what he did.

Despite all the positive mitigation, my dad was sentenced to 24 years EDS with a 4 year extended license period. As it stands, my dad will have to serve 16 years before he can apply for parol (he will be 62 at this point). If his parol application gets rejected, it will be 2049 before he is released. 

We understand my dad isn't an angel in this and did wrong. Dad agrees he should be in jail… but for 24 years? People who have murdered someone don't get a sentence like this. & please note, Tat has/had no life threatening injuries. 

We want justice for my dad! He has been convicted of something he did not do. He did not rob Tat. He did not attempted to kill Tat either. Attempted murder is pre planned, this was a spur of the moment and was dealt with wrong. 

Please… sign this petition so we can get justice for my dad and his family. He does not deserve this sort of sentence!