Brave Hull pensioner tried to fight off thug who stole her handbag
VILE ROBBER JAILED FOR SIX YEARS
A VILE teenage robber dragged his elderly victim across the floor as she bravely tried to fight him off.
Bobby Sutherland, 19, of Terry Street, targeted the 80-year-old as she made her way home from North Point Shopping Centre on September 20, this year.
Sutherland rode his bicycle past the woman nearby Stroud Crescent East, Bransholme, grabbing at her handbag.
However, the woman bravely held on to it and as Sutherland tried to cycle away she was dragged to her knees and across the floor for more than a metre before she gave up and his bike fell on top of her.
A woman who was passing called police for help and sent her husband and son after Sutherland who could not catch up with him.
Prosecuting, Kristina Goodwin, told Hull Crown Court on Friday: “She was left with grazes to both of her knees and a fracture to the end of her collarbone.
“The woman’s handbag had in it £30 in cash, her bank card and shopping.”
In a victim impact statement read out to the court the woman told how she is now frightened to leave the house and has “lost so much weight” and now “doesn’t feel like herself.”
She said: “I really hope one day I can be as carefree as I used to be.”
The court heard how just days earlier on September 15, Sutherland had stolen two rings and a necklace from his own auntie and went on to sell them.
He handed himself in to Clough Road Police Station on September 24, telling officers he was using crack cocaine at the time.
Mitigating, David Godfrey told the court Sutherland was “disgusted” by what he had done, which is what prompted him to hand himself in after seeing an appeal put out by Humberside Police.
Mr Godfrey added: “He is just 19 and has managed to wrack up some serious convictions.
“He wants to influence on his off drugs.
“He does not want to go anywhere near this kind of offending again.”
The court heard Sutherland has previous convictions for robbery and burglary.
He was jailed for six years by Recorder Simon Kealey who told him his victims have suffered the “effects of the offending.” be a family positive and stay