‘Heartbreaking’ Footage shows moment woman left man to freeze to death after mobility scooter theft
Footage shows ‘vulnerable’ Neil Shadwick desperately holding on to scooter as Kimberley Hawkins drives away
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CCTV footage showing the moment a cruel woman stole a vulnerable man’s mobility scooter and left him to freeze to death has been released.
Kimberley Ann Hawkins, 41, admitted to killing Neil Shadwick after taking his scooter outside a Tesco superstore in Gloucestershire in January last year.
Video released by Gloucestershire Constabulary shows Hawkins speeding away on the scooter, dragging the father-of-two as he desperately clung on for up to a minute.
She later dumped the vehicle on Bisley Old Road in Stroud, where it was found by a member of the public at about 8am.
Mr Shadwick, 63, who used his mobility scooter as his mode of transport, was left overnight in sub-zero temperatures and found unresponsive in the car park on Stratford Road, Stroud, hours later at 6am. He later died in hospital.
Hawkins, a homeless drug addict, was jailed for six years at Gloucester Crown Court on Thursday for a string of offences, including the manslaughter of Mr Shadwick.
The court heard Hawkins and Mr Shadwick had gone to two cashpoints at about 2.30am on January 22 last year to get money, after a sexual encounter.
CCTV showed the father-of-two and the defendant riding together on the scooter as they arrived at the second cashpoint, at the Tesco superstore on Stratford Road, in Stroud, Gloucestershire. Hawkins gets off and Mr Shadwick, who had with severe Parkinson’s, is seen to get out of the seat and support himself with the scooter as he uses the cash machine.
She then suddenly jumps into the seat and speeds off, leaving Mr Shadwick desperately holding on as he is dragged away from the store. Further footage shows Mr Shadwick holding on and kicking his legs as Hawkins escapes, causing his trousers to come off.
He falls off near to the Tesco petrol station and then takes about 12 minutes to crawl back to the cashpoint to retrieve his bank card before collapsing on the ground.
The supermarket staff who arrived for work at about 5.45am found Mr Shadwick unconscious outside and alerted the emergency services. Drifting in and out of consciousness, Mr Shadwick was able to tell them “Kim” and “robbery” before he was taken to hospital, where he died later that day.
Hawkins, who was wearing a coat, scarf, hat and gloves because the temperature was about -4C, abandoned the scooter on Old Bisley Road after it ran out of battery.
Mary Cowe, prosecuting, told the court Mr Shadwick was “extremely vulnerable” and lived in supported accommodation in Stroud, relying on carers visiting him four times a day.
“This defendant was known to have come to his home and was a regular visitor from the end of 2021,” she said. “This was a man who was physically vulnerable and that would have been obvious to anyone who visited.”
She added: “She did what she did out of a fit of pique. It was selfish and spiteful but not premeditated.
“She told a friend she had performed sexual favours for Mr Shadwick and he couldn’t pay.”
Detective Inspector Adam Stacey, who led the investigation, said: “Hawkins’ actions were callous, and they had fatal consequences for a man whom she knew was extremely vulnerable.
“The footage from the early hours of that morning is heart breaking to watch, as Neil Shadwick was abandoned in sub-zero temperatures in the street without his mobility scooter and therefore unable to seek shelter or help.
“The family feel robbed that they didn’t get the chance to say goodbye to Neil, as he was cruelly taken away from them.”
Further footage released by Gloucestershire Constabulary also shows the moment Hawkins was arrested and told Mr Shadwick had passed away in hospital.