Woman gets 4 1/2 years for role in crime spree

Fuelled by a shared addiction, a couple’s road trip from British Columbia to Saskatchewan turned into a crime spree that resulted this week in a prison term for one of them.

Court heard after Christine Webb helped her boyfriend carry out a series of robberies and a break-in, he took the money and ran, ditching her in the small Saskatchewan town where police caught up to her last summer.

Earlier this week, 28-year-old Webb — whose relatively minimal record contains no previous violence — found herself with her first federal prison term for her role in what the court deemed a crime spree.

Webb previously pleaded guilty to three robberies — one an armed robbery at a gas station convenience store and the others bank robberies — and a break, enter and commit theft, as well as a couple of breaches of bail conditions out of B.C.

Judge Anna Crugnale-Reid had taken some time to consider sentence before returning this week with a decision, sending Webb to prison for a total of 4½ years.

With remand credit factored in, Webb is left with a little over three years, five months to serve.

Court heard the incidents took place over the course of two days in August 2016, when the couple decided to drive to Saskatchewan where Webb is originally from.

Between them, the couple racked up numerous charges along the way, with some — including all the charges against the boyfriend — remaining before the court.

Webb has now been sentenced for a string of Saskatchewan offences that occurred between Aug. 11 and 13, 2016.

Court heard the first of those saw Webb walk into a convenience store attached to a Swift Current gas bar just before midnight and pull what the clerk would later describe to police as a “Rambo-style knife.” Webb demanded cash and cigarettes before making off with lottery tickets and a decorative black skull that was sitting on the counter.

Two days later, an attached garage in Milestone was broken into via the dog door, the subsequent theft of a truck made easy by the keys left inside. That truck was used in two bank robberies later that day, one in Regina and the other in Qu’Appelle.

Webb didn’t get far after that, apparently abandoned in Qu’Appelle by her partner after he took the bulk of the money, court heard.

Police located and arrested Webb in that community the day after the bank robberies, by which time some of the stolen and marked cash had been used to buy food, alcohol and fuel. Court heard Webb has lived a troubled life, having lived on the street since age 14, and that her boyfriend, described as abusive, put her up to committing the offences.