Violent teen jailed
Mugger hit youth over head with glass bottle
A TEENAGE mugger who beat his victim over the head with a vodka bottle to steal their possessions – including an asthma inhaler – has been jailed.
Shakil Ruel McCrea, 18, of Kings Hill Avenue, Hayes, was jailed for 14 years at Isleworth Crown Court on Friday, April 24, having been found guilty of three counts of robbery and one of possessing an imitation firearm.
The court heard how McCrea and a 17-year-old accomplice from Hayes, who cannot be named for legal reasons, struck at around midnight on March 20 last year, when they approached two teenage boys at Yeading Brook Park, opposite The Industry pub, in Yeading Lane, Yeading, shouting: “Give me your stuff.”
They struck the victims over the head with a glass bottle, before stealing a mobile phone, a pair of headphones, a wallet and an inhaler.
The attackers fled and the victims called police, before receiving hospital treatment.
The victims identified the attackers on Facebook and detectives from Hillingdon CID circulated the images among officers as part of its investigation.
A week later, at around 9.30pm on March 28, last year, McCrea and an unidentified associate forced their way into a residential address in Hobard Lane, Hayes.
They threatened two male occupants with an imitation handgun and demanded their mobile phones, before fleeing.
Another week later, one of the occupants called police to say he had spotted McCrea and his associate nearby.
Officers swooped and arrested McCrea and the 17-year-old boy from the first attack, who was with him, before searching an address in Hayes, where they found a mobile phone stolen in the house robbery.
The 17-year-old was not involved in the second hold-up, but he was charged in relation to the park attack.
Detective Constable Michael Davidson, of Hillingdon CID, said: “As a result of the police working together with victims of crime and securing the best evidence to present before the courts.
“McCrea will now begin a significant jail term for his awful actions. We will use every tactic available to relentlessly pursue offenders who blight our communities in this way.”
The 17-year-old boy will be sentenced at Kingston Crown Court on May 29 for his part in the first attack, having been found guilty of two counts of robbery.