Caught on CCTV: Siblings lashed out at bus passengers and knocked one out cold in unprovoked attack
A brother and sister who lashed out at bus passengers during a 45-minute rampage have been jailed.
Drunken Whitney Maughan assaulted two passengers – including a 16-year-old boy – on the No. 246 Stourbridge bus before attacking two more people in Dudley bus station.
It culminated with a vicious beating, in tandem with her brother James Maughan, on a 30-year-old man as he waited for his regular service home after work.
The Maughans were travelling on the 246 bus at around 6pm on March 5 – swearing loudly and throwing beer around – when Whitney lashed out at a 16-year-old lad before laying into a 30-year-old woman who confronted them.
Shortly after leaving the bus in Dudley she yanked a 17-year-old girl's hair, scratching her neck, and then turned their attention to a man in Stand G of the terminus.
Whitney Maughan, from Barnet Road in Portobello, approached the commuter and began swinging punches after being told he couldn't provide her with a cigarette.
Moments later 22-year-old James weighed in with a flurry of blows before kicking the man in the head and rendering him unconscious against a row of metal seating.
And as he was out cold cruel Whitney rummaged through his pockets and stole his mobile phone and £40 in cash.
Despite the severity of the attack neither the man, nor any of the other victims, reported the assaults to police – but officers from the Safer Travel Partnership (STP) found James Maughan during patrols of the bus station exactly a week on from the attack and took a statement.
CCTV was circulated among Safer Travel staff and led to Whitney Maughan being identified by a PCSO who'd previously challenged the 21-year-old over her behaviour.
West Midlands Police issued an appeal to trace her and on April 13 she handed herself in to Wolverhampton Police, while James Maughan was interviewed by officers in prison in Manchester where he'd been remanded on other matters.
On Friday at Wolverhampton Crown Court Whitney Maughan admitted four counts of assault and theft and was jailed for 31 months, while James Maughan was handed a two-year jail term for assault.
PC David Ward from the Partnership – a union of West Midlands Police, British Transport Police, transport authority Centro, and public transport firms – said: "These were shocking attacks on innocent members of the public…this type of behaviour is despicable and will not be tolerated.
"The attacks were witnessed by many people in the bus station. I hope our action in tracking down the victims and offenders, plus the subsequent jail sentences handed down, reassure transport users that we are committed to tackling crime and bad behaviour on buses."
STP Crime Reduction Manager Mark Babington, added: "This is a true demonstration of partnership working: CCTV operators working closely with investigating officers to make sure offenders are caught and punished."
PC Ward added: "They completely lost control…lashing out at people on a whim seemingly just for kicks. However, we recovered good quality CCTV which enabled us to identify the offenders and through anniversary visits to the station we were able to find the victims.
"It's important people report incidents of crime and anti-social behaviour to us on public transport so we can take action against offenders, protect passengers and make journeys more pleasant for all service users."
Councillor Kath Hartley, chair of Centro's Putting Passengers First Committee, added: "Incidents of this nature are, thankfully, rare on public transport but when they do occur we will take decisive action."
