Man In Court Accused Of Mugging Alan Barnes

By Gerard Tubb, North of England Correspondent

A 25-year-old man has been remanded in custody charged with assaulting disabled pensioner Alan Barnes, whose plight sparked a global fundraising effort.

Richard Gatiss was told that the charge, that he assaulted Mr Barnes with intent to rob him, can be dealt with only at Crown court.

Mr Barnes, 67, who is registered blind and just 4'6" tall, suffered a broken collar bone in the incident two weeks ago outside his Gateshead flat where he lived alone.

He can only see shapes a few inches away from him and he told police someone attacked him as he put out his recycling bin.

After Northumbria Police appealed for information beautician Kate Cutler, 21, who had never met Mr Barnes, started an online campaign to raise money to raise £500 to buy him new carpets and curtains.

News of the fund spread through social media, attracting donations from around the world until it reached £329,000 before being closed by his family last week.

Mr Barnes met the campaigner last weekend and described her gesture as "magic".

Mr Gattis, also from Gateshead, did not speak during the brief hearing and was remanded in custody to appear at Newcastle Crown Court on 24 February.

Chief Superintendent Andy McDyer, of Northumbria Police, said: "I'd like to reassure people that since this happened we've been relentless in our investigation and in following up lines of inquiry.

Mr Barnes has disabilities from birth after his mother contracted German measles when she was pregnant.

He is a well-known figure in Low Fell and is renowned for being able to quickly calculate how many days old someone is from their date of birth.

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