‘Shock killed my baby’

Aug 23 2007 by Chris Robinson, The Journal

A PREGNANT shop worker who had her unborn child threatened by a knifeman suffered so much stress that she miscarried just weeks later.

The woman told The Journal doctors said her baby stopped developing days after the attempted robbery at an off licence in Sunderland.

Speaking for the first time since the attack, the 24-year-old said she thought she was going to die after violent Michael Giblin pulled out the blade and pointed it towards her six-week unborn child.

Yesterday Giblin, 20, of Wilson Terrace, Sunderland, who was already on a community order for harassing off licence workers, was given an indefinite period behind bars at a young offenders' institution.

His accomplice, Paul Clark, who was 16 at the time, of Pembroke Avenue, Sunderland, was given a 12-month detention and training order.

Since the attempted robbery, on May 3, the shop worker says she is still too scared to stand behind the cash desk alone. Specialist security equipment has now been installed on the premises.

“It was terrifying and every time someone comes in the shop, I don’t know, I just think they have a knife,” she added. “It was the most frightening thing that has ever happened to me, I was shaking, and that is the main reason why I had the miscarriage.

“They had the knife up to my stomach and they were both so nasty with the things they were saying, it’s still really hard to be here alone. When I did have the miscarriage the doctor said the baby’s growth had stopped during the early weeks of the pregnancy, around the time of what happened.

“I’m really happy he has been locked up for an indefinite period. They have ruined the way I feel about standing in the shop on my own, I feel shaken all the time.

“My husband and my parents have helped me through this, but it’s also been hard for my husband because he has to be in the shop on his own and we’re running a business. We both just want to put it behind us now, it has been a few weeks now and we just want to try and forget about it.”

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Robber poses a serious risk to the public

THUGS Michael Giblin and Paul Clark were yesterday locked up for their attack on a pregnant shopkeeper which caused her to lose her unborn baby.

The pair were sentenced at Newcastle Crown Court yesterday after they both admitted robbery, following the evening raid on a Sunderland off licence.

Judge Esmond Faulks(corr), presiding, ordered both teenagers be locked up after the terrifying attack at the shop at 8pm on May 3 this year. It left a 24-year-old woman shop worker fearing for her life and that of her unborn child.

Giblin, who brandished the knife at the pregnant woman’s stomach before demanding money from the till, was given an indefinite sentence at a young offenders’ institute.

At the time of the attack, the 20-year-old, of Wilson Terrace in Silksworth, Sunderland, was already on a three-month community order for harassing a different off-licence worker.

Robert Adams, defending, said: “He does acknowledge what he has done. He know seems to be showing some recognition of what he has been doing this past two years.”

He added: “There was no indication he would actually have used knife to do any harm.”

But Judge Faulks decided the youngster’s record and the severity of the crime meant he had to be sentenced as a dangerous offender.

He said: “You have proved unable or unwilling to work with community orders.”

Judge Faulks added: “I am satisfied that you are a person who poses serious risk of harming members of the public.”

However, Judge Faulks ruled that Clark, 17, of Pembroke Avenue in Silksworth, Sunderland did not present a risk to members of the public, after hearing this was his first offence. He added that a report into the youngster, who was 16 at the time of the attack, said he was likely to reoffend, and placed him on a 12-month detention and training order.