Double amputee tells how he was mugged by 'good Samaritan'

EXCLUSIVE: ‘How could anyone do this to another human being…? Double amputee, 67, tells of terrifying moment he was wheeled out of hospital and mugged by robber posing as a good Samaritan in attack caught on CCTV

  • Liam Dallimore posed as a helpful patient to wheel George McEwan-Jones out of  hospital to help him get some fresh air
  • But instead of helping the retired taxi driver, who had just had an operation to remove both of his legs, Dallimore slammed his wheelchair against a wall
  • He stole Mr McEwan-Jones’ bank card and tried to withdraw £270 from his account  
  • Dallimore, 29, used the card to buy cigarettes while the amputee was treated 
  • The attacker was jailed for nearly four years after admitting robbery and fraud
  • Father-of-five Mr McEwan-Jones, 67, told MailOnline that he is sickened by the attack on him 

A double amputee in a wheelchair has spoken of the terrifying moment he was mugged by a robber posing as a Good Samaritan in hospital.

Father-of-five George McEwan-Jones, 67, a retired taxi driver, said the sickening attack happened after he decided to get a drink and some fresh air after only emerging from a six-weeks coma earlier that day.

The moments leading up to the incident were captured on CCTV, as crook Liam Dallimore pretended to be doing a good deed before swiping Mr McEwan-Jones’ bank card, and ramming his wheelchair into a wall.

‘The nurses said I shouldn’t really go out on my own, but I said I felt fine and never suspected I’d have any reason to worry in a hospital,’ Mr McEwan-Jones told MailOnline.

‘I noticed this guy standing behind me when I bought a can of coke in the WH Smiths in the hospital, and he must have seen my PIN number. As I left the shop, he just grabbed the wheelchair and pushed me outside then down a slope at speed, taking my bank card.


George McEwan-Jones (left), 67, a retired taxi driver, said he was sickened by the attack for which Liam Dallimore (right) was jailed for 45 months for robbery and fraud

‘A doctor who was watching from an upstairs window realised what was happening, but by the time he made it downstairs, it was too late and my stump was just pumping out blood because of the anti-coagulants I was on.

‘How could anyone do this to another human being, let alone someone who is in such a vulnerable position?’

In the video, visitors and medical staff walked past, mistakenly assuming he was a kind patient helping a disabled man get some fresh air whilst recovering from a major operation in Manchester.

Mr McEwan-Jones, who had an operation to remove his right leg, told of his ordeal

But moments later, dressed only in a surgical gown having just come round from a six week coma and learning he’d lost a leg – was robbed of his bank card by Dallimore, who’d posed as a patient on crutches.

In the moments before the callous attack, the father-of-one had accosted Mr McEwan-Jones outside a WH Smith store at Manchester Royal Infirmary before wheeling him into to the car park.

He then snatched the debit card out of his hand and pushed Mr McEwan-Jones’ wheelchair down a slope into a wall forcing the victim to use his stump to prevent his face from hitting the brickwork.

As doctors treated the victim’s wounds, Dallimore, 29, used the stolen debit card to try and withdraw £270 cash from an ATM, before splashing out on cigarettes and getting cashback at a Morrisons supermarket.

In a statement to court, Mr McEwan-Jones, who lost his right leg to deep vein thrombosis (DVT) just four years after his left leg had to be amputated, said: ‘I think it’s absolutely diabolical that someone could do this to a man with no legs.

Visitors and medical staff walked past Dallimore, mistakenly assuming he was a kind patient helping a disabled man – who had only just learned he’d lost a leg – get some fresh air

‘How am I supposed to defend myself? This person must not have a heart to do such a diabolical thing.

‘I had just come out of a coma when I was robbed in the Manchester Royal Infirmary. It was the first day I had been awake.

‘I wanted to get a drink because I was so thirsty. Then this man has taken hold of my wheelchair and rammed me into a wall.

‘When the robber pushed my wheelchair into the wall, I have had to use the stump of my left leg to stop the impact. The wound I suffered was about the size of a 50 pence piece and did not stop bleeding.

‘The whole incident affects me to this day. I feel very worried going out to the shops and I have to take medication to help me sleep.’

Yesterday, CCTV images of the raid emerged as Glaswegian Dallimore, of no fixed abode, was jailed for three years and nine months after he admitted robbery and fraud by false representation.

He refused to leave his cell and was dealt with in his absence.

Manchester Crown Court heard the robbery at 1.30pm on July 14 this year occurred six weeks after Mr McEwan-Jones, from Salford, had been admitted to hospital after collapsing unconscious with DVT.

David Lees, prosecuting, told the court the victim spotted Dallimore loitering outside the entrance to WH Smiths and noticed he was on crutches but not limping.

Dallimore (pictured), 29, stole McEwan-Jones’ bank card, which he used to spend on cigarettes

When asked for money for a taxi, Mr McEwan-Jones said he didn’t have any and was followed into the store by Dallimore, who watched him buy a bottle of cola using his pin number.

He then started to wheel himself back to the hospital ward until the defendant approached him, put the crutches on the back of the wheelchair and pushed him out onto the corridor and into the car park.

‘He continued to push him to a quiet area of the grounds and it was witnessed by a doctor working in a first-floor office,’ Mr Lees said.

‘The doctor initially thought it was one patient doing another patient a favour by pushing him around but then he realised they were going towards a secluded area and he was suspicious as to what might happen.

‘As they got to the secluded area, Dallimore has grabbed Mr McEwan-Jones’s bank card from his right hand then pushed the wheelchair into a wall. He let him go and the chair went down a slope towards a wall.

‘All Mr McEwan-Jones could do to stop himself from running into the wall was to use the stump of his left leg and the impact of the wall caused a wound the size of a 50 pence piece.

‘Dallimore even ran down the slope and grabbed the drink that Mr McEwan-Jones had just purchased before running off.’

The victim’s wound wouldn’t stop bleeding because of the medication he was on, and had to remain in hospital for a further four weeks after the attack.

Dallimore, originally from Govan in Glasgow, was expelled from school when he was just five and has 77 offences on his record, including an assault on his own mother in which he spat in her face and said he hoped she would get coronavirus.

He also had other convictions for battery, robbery and having a bladed article and had an addiction to heroin.

His counsel Daniel Calder said the robbery was ‘cruel and abhorrent’ but added: ‘His attendance at the hospital was to ask for treatment in relation to abscesses to his legs.

‘He would wish the court to accept that the offence was opportunistic rather than planned.’

Dallimore (pictured) snatched the credit card out of Mr McEwan-Jones’ hands and pushed his wheelchair down a slope into a wall

Sentencing, Mr Recorder Michael Maher said: ‘Medically speaking, the last four years have been grim for Mr McEwan-Jones and Dallimore then took advantage of him.

‘He effectively abducted him by grabbing his wheelchair and controlling his movements.

‘It is clear that he did opportunistically target a man, and the circumstances in which he did target him most right-thinking people would think as appalling.

‘A doctor initially thought the defendant was acting in a selfless manner. How wrong he was. This defendant in fact acted with utter contempt for Mr McEwan-Jones, casting him aside as though he was a piece of rubbish. He was completely helpless.’

After the case Det Con Anthony Calvert of GMP’s Operation Valiant team, said: ‘This was a horrific assault on a particularly vulnerable victim who had just undergone major and life-changing surgery.

‘This was clearly a premeditated assault and Dallimore was on the prowl for a victim he knew would be unable to defend themselves, clearly demonstrating how much of a coward he is.

‘No one should ever be made to feel unsafe particularly in a care setting such as a hospital.’

Mr McEwan-Jones told MailOnline: ‘The police officers who dealt with the case told me he was the most horrible person they’ve ever had to deal with.

As doctors treated the victim’s wounds, Dallimore, 29, used the stolen debit card to try and withdraw £270 cash

‘When he was in custody he threw himself downstairs and pretended he’d been beaten up by the police. He didn’t have the guts to face me in the court case and stayed in his cell.’

Mr Jones, who has two grandchildren, said his family had rallied round to help him, but the incident had dented his confidence and set back his recovery.

Although he already has a prosthetic on one leg, he said he now faces a battle to have one fitted on the other leg because one is amputated above the knee and the other below.

‘The NHS doesn’t want to give me a prostethetic on the other leg because they said I’d be imbalanced, but I’m going to argue my case,’ he said.

Meanwhile he said he keeps fit at home performing 80kg bench presses and leg extensions.

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