SYRINGE THREAT ROBBER JAILED FOR NINE YEARS

Man told pregnant hairdresser: ‘I don’t want to give you AIDS’

A NUNEATON man who went on a knifepoint crime spree threatened a pregnant hairdresser with a syringe and said “I don’t want to give you AIDS.”

Colin Young, 35, of Bucksford Court, Bucks Hill, admitted three knifepoint robberies or attempted robberies in less than an hour and has been jailed for nine years.

He committed the offences in Nuneaton on the afternoon of January 16 this year.

At Warwick Crown Court he pleaded guilty to two charges of robbery and three of attempted robbery, as well as possessing an offensive weapon and a bladed article.

Warwickshire Police and a judge praised brave members of the public who stood up to him.

Judge Richard Griffith-Jones awarded a pregnant hairdresser £400 in recognition of her bravery for courageously standing up to Young when he threatened her with a syringe.

At 2pm Young went into Griffin Pet Supplies in Church Road with a scarf over his face, and when the manager asked him to remove it, he pulled out a knife and told her to put the money from the till in a bag.

The manager picked up her phone and began to shout for help, at which Young fled from the shop emptyhanded.

Fifteen minutes later he walked into the Johnny Rocketts hair salon in Arbury Road, with his face masked and brandishing a knife.

Prosecutor Richard Franck said: “He was confronted by a courageous hairdresser, who was 22 weeks pregnant, who told him to ‘get out.’”

Young demanded: “Give me the money. I can see you’re pregnant, I don’t want to hurt you.”

She refused, and again told him to get out – at which Young pulled out a syringe.

It had a reddish-brown liquid in it, which may have been blood, and told her: “I don’t want to give you AIDS.”

Still refusing to hand over any money when Young demanded £40 to go away, she grabbed a motorcycle helmet from a shelf to try to ward him off if he came towards her.

Young turned his attention to a customer and demanded money, but she told him she didn’t have any and he then left, again emptyhanded.

Just before 3pm a woman was walking down an alleyway after leaving the Tesco store in Croft Road when Young ran up behind her, grabbed her and wrenched her bag from her shoulder.

As he ran off he was confronted by a man who had seen what happened and he handed the bag to the man before making off.

When Young was arrested a short time after on Northumberland Road, the syringe and the knife were recovered.

Colin Charvill, defending, said: “There are no reports. Custody is inevitable. He accepts that. He knows he’s going to face a considerable time in custody.”

Young was sentenced to five years in prison for the January 16 offences.

He also pleaded guilty to a robbery at a shop on Kingswood Road, Nuneaton, on July 30 2017.

For this offence he was sentenced to four years in prison to run consecutively to the sentence for the other offences.

Judge Griffith-Jones said: “The most grave of these offences is the attempt to rob [the hairdresser], who was obviously pregnant, and what you did was despicable.”

The judge also made a £400 award from public funds to the man who confronted him in the street.

Following Young’s sentencing Detective Sergeant Adam Clifford said: “The public should feel reassured that officers responded promptly to reports of these incidents and arrested Young.

“I would like pay tribute to the bravery of all the victims in the case whose support has also helped ensure this conviction.”