[1] When he left school at the age of 14, Easterbrook got a job working on tipper lorries earning £2 10s a week, but he soon found that he wasn't able to live on this wage and was constantly borrowing money; it was then that he got into crime.
[1] In between working as a general labourer or on building sites, Easterbrook carried out petty crimes, breaking and entering, and burglaries.
The Evening Times reports a conviction for wounding William Mills and Frank Henry Dunn with intent to cause them grievous bodily harm by jabbing them in the face with a broken glass.
One of these alleges that Easterbrook broke into the Artillery Museum, which at the time was located at the Rotunda in Woolwich and stole six firearms valued at £81 that were the property of the Queen.
[8] Easterbrook's first conviction for armed robbery came in 1958, whilst he was working as a bricklayer and living in Holden House, Church Street, Deptford.
Stevens spotted Easterbrook climbing over a wooden fence and gave chase along St. Georges Road, Bickley.
Despite having been shot, Stevens managed to grab hold of Easterbrook and force him up against some iron railings at the side of a railway bridge.
Easterbrook who was still running with the constable being dragged behind, suddenly slipped off his overcoat and jacket causing Stevens to fall to the ground.
Easterbrook was initially charged with attempted murder but was acquitted due to lack of evidence that he actually intended to kill PC Stevens.
Easterbrook was instead convicted of the lesser charge of grievous bodily harm and intent to resist his lawful apprehension.
On his release in 1981 he was convicted of conspiracy to rob security guards of £40,000 and possessing an automatic pistol with intent to commit an indictable offence.
[9] The robbery itself was carried out by Tony Ash entering the store and holding a loaded revolver to the shop assistant's head before demanding they hand over a Securicor cash bag containing £10,400.
For his defence, Easterbrook instructed his barrister to claim that Flying Squad officers were operating a shoot-to-kill policy.
[9] In 2003, whilst at HMP High Down in Surrey, Easterbrook through his solicitor, Simon Creighton, took the case to the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg.
[9] The European Court of Human Rights ruled that Easterbrook's tariff fixing procedure had been in breach of article six of the convention.
Despite this ruling by the European Court of Human Rights, Easterbrook still refused to take part in the parole process and remained in prison until 2009 where he died, still claiming that his conviction was unlawful.
The decisions made by the European Court of Human Rights in the case of Ronald Easterbook have had a direct result on the setting of tariffs for convicted criminals.