A heroic dad who tackled two burglars on the road and was later sentenced to prison for crashing into them and causing injuries is becoming the center of attention after his GoFundMe page raised more than £150,000.
The incident happened in 2019 when two burglars, Taylor Benford and Ryal Paul, tried to break into Adam White’s house in Eggington, UK after he put up an online for selling his bike.
When the intruders tried to escape from his property with the stolen motorbike, White chased them in his Mercedes, and while he was swerving around a sharp bend in the road, he ended up crashing into the burglars, who were on separate motorbikes.
The pair sustained serious injuries, including broken bones, bleeding on the brain, and a fractured skull.
Shortly after the collision, Andrew White was arrested from his home while Benford and Paul were immediately taken to the hospital by the police officials.
After the incident, 34-year-old Andrew White was sentenced to prison for 22 months for taking the law into his hands and causing severe injuries to the burglars. Meanwhile, despite having criminal histories on the records, Benford and Paul received only suspended sentences and 200 hours of community service after pleading guilty to the theft.
Fast forward to 2022 – White was released in September after he completed his time in jail. Recently, the UK native appeared on Channel 4’s ’24 Hours in Police Custody’ and shared his story.
Andrew’s story has infuriated the viewers, who cannot seem to understand why an innocent and harmless guy was sentenced to prison while the actual criminals with criminal histories were spared.
According to The Mirror UK, “Since it’s broadcast, Adam and his family have received an outpour of support, with fans donating to a GoFundMe page to ‘give back’ to Adam.”
The GoFundMe page reads, “He was put away for 22 months for knocking them off their STOLEN bike, and they got ZERO prison time. He spent £50k of his life savings. Let’s get it back to him!!”
“I have been in touch with Adam’s wife, Lindsay, who will be transferring the funds directly from the fundraiser. Thank you for all the support so far.”
The page was updated by Andrew’s wife, Lindsay White, who wrote that her family is overwhelmed with the support people have been giving them.
“We truly can’t believe how generous and thoughtful all our donors are. Every word of support has encouraged us to remain strong and has put warmth in our hearts that we thought lost 3 years ago.”
“We feel so incredibly thankful for the money everyone has raised to help us get back our losses, and thanks to all of you, we have. At this stage I would like to take this opportunity to say to anyone who wishes to donate to the page, we will be passing on any future funds from now to Charity, to honor the loss of our baby. We will update further information on the page shortly.”
The father-of-two also penned a post on his Twitter and thanked people who supported him and his family.
“Thank you to everyone for your kind words and heartfelt sympathy we have been through an awful lot, it was hard seeing this on TV and with all the messages I’ve received has been amazing and very emotional I honestly can’t believe the public is behind me.” #24hoursinpolicecustody
Andrew White also spoke to The Daily Mail for an interview and discussed his time in jail and described it as ‘painful’ and ‘agonizing’ while he revealed that his wife, Lindsay had to terminate her pregnancy in fear of raising the child without him.
“That was the worst thing we had to do,” he said. “Within a week and a half of the incident, we made a decision to have a termination.”
“We didn’t know what was happening or a charge or anything like that. What do you do? We made the most sensible decision we could at the time, it was incredibly hard…the pain she went through. I sat there with her the whole time.”
“The two and a half years leading up to the court date we were in limbo and we didn’t know what to do.”
Recalling the day he was sentenced to prison, White said it was the ‘worst day of his life.’
“I was petrified. When I got sentenced at court that was the worst day of my life. Seeing my wife, friends, and family as I was led out the door, I was crying.”
He added, “The first four or five days in prison I was so scared.”
Andrew and Lindsay told Daily Mail that they are trying to get back to normal lives and would hopefully find happiness again.
“We were happy before all this, and hopefully, we can get back to that stage.”
What are your views on Andrew White’s story? Let us know in the comments.
Sources: The Mirror UK – Daily Mail – Twitter
