Mugger targeted elderly women
AHOMELESS teenager who robbed vulnerable and elderly women of their handbags to fund his drug habit has been jailed and classed as a ‘ dangerous offender’.
Wesley Powell targeted six women and two teenage girls in Accrington in a twoday spree before robbing a shop worker of a charity box and another man of a bike.
Preston Crown Court heard how the victims were left ‘haunted’ by the incidents.
Prosecutor David Traynor said the first incident involved a 74-year-old woman as she walked along Washington Street in Accrington.
Powell, who was 18 at the time, asked her ‘Have you got any fags?’ and when she said no he ‘ripped’ the handbag from her hand.
The victim later found her bag discarded on the floor with cash missing.
Mr Traynor said she was left feeling ‘very frightened and vulnerable’ and the court heard that she now suffers from sleeplessness and is fearful of walking down the street by herself.
A few hours later Powell robbed another woman of her handbag on Windsor Street in Accrington. Mr
Traynor said the victim ‘heard someone running behind her’ and felt a ‘tug’ which caused her to fall to the ground.
There was then a ‘scuffle’ and Powell continued to pull on her bag, before he ran off empty handed.
In a victim impact statement read out at court, she described how the ‘robbery has taken away her independence’ and she required counselling from her GP.
The next day Powell targeted two women, aged 65 and another in her 80s, who were walking on Belgarth Road in Accrington.
The court heard that the 65-year-old ‘fell heavily to the ground’ and saw Powell running away with her handbag. She attended hospital for treatment on bruising and swelling to her face and pain in her back, chest and leg.
Mr Traynor said the incident happened six weeks after the death of her husband and at a time when she was ‘just starting to feel doing okay on her own’.
The lady in her 80s also suffered a bleeding nose after falling to the floor. A victim statement revealed that the ‘incident still haunts her every day’.
A few minutes later Powell robbed a 77-year-old woman on nearby Foster Street as she was walking her dog. The court heard that the defendant ‘dragged’ a handbag out of her hand before punching her to the chest, causing her to stumble against a wall.
Within an hour Powell then attacked a 46-year-old disabled woman in an alleyway at the rear of Sultan Street in Accrington.
The court heard that the defendant was walking in the other direction when he started swearing at her. Mr Traynor said she pulled a plastic bag containing her purse close to her chest before the defendant tried to pull it away. The victim then ‘ shouted loudly’ at Powell before running to her daughter’s home.
Two 18-year-old girls were then targeted by Powell who ran at them wearing a balaclava. He ‘barged’ into one of the victims - causing her to stumble - and grabbed her handbag. He then turned to the other teenager and put his arms around her neck. The court heard she managed to break free but was chased by Powell to Burnley Road, where she got away. Mr Traynor said one of the teenagers was “physically sick afterwards due to the fear” and the other was “sickened and shocked” by his actions.
When Powell was arrested and interviewed he denied any involvement in the offences.
The court heard CCTV showed the defendant ‘in the area of the incidents’ but didn’t show him committing the robberies. Many of the robbery victims were also unable to identify him.
After Powell was released under investigation he robbed a shop worker in Brierfield of a charity box.
Powell, of Leeds Road, Nelson, pleaded guilty to robbery, attempted robbery and theft and was jailed for a total of 45 months.
Judge Medland QC said: “Over the last 15 months you appear to have been at war with yourself and the authorities. You decided to live rough, found enough money to smoke drugs and decided to get the money you needed by a whole series of really mean robberies. “These were elderly, vulnerable women who were in no position to defend themselves against you. You didn’t produce a weapon and there was no grossly excessive violence but the point is there didn’t need to be.
“They were so vulnerable compared to you. You only needed to push them or pull their bags and they would tumble.”
The judge said Powell should be classed as a dangerous offender, but ruled out imposing an extended sentence. He said: “I’m quite clear you are just such a person but that doesn’t of itself mean I must therefore impose an extended sentence.
“In my judgement the risk you pose at present is significant, though it’s when put against your personal problems, age and lack of previous convictions mean that a determinate sentence is sufficient to protect the public from the risk that you pose.”