Man is jailed for robbing visitor after offering to help him
A MAN befriended a visitor to Swansea and lured him to an isolated spot before attacking him with a plank of wood and robbing him, a court has heard.
The stranger – a Hungarian national in his 60s – had come to the city to deliver a document to the DVLA.
But after asking Christopher Whitcombe for directions he was led to a quiet spot on the banks of the River Tawe and assaulted.
Swansea Crown Court heard the visitor arrived in Swansea in the early hours after catching a late-night coach from London. After waiting for a couple of hours in the city centre, he asked a policeman for directions to Morriston, and set off on foot.
Frank Phillip, prosecuting, said the visitor got as far as St John’s Church in Morriston – known locally as the church in the middle of the road – where he met Whitcombe.
The Hungarian asked the 34-year-old for directions, and if he could help him with the documents he wanted to hand in.
The court heard the pair went for coffee in a McDonald’s restaurant, then at around 7am set off the DVLA. However, Whitcombe led the man down to the river bank near the Riverside caravan park, where he picked up a length of wood and hit him on the head and demanded money.
The dazed victim managed to throw a £5 note at him and ran off – chased by his attacker. He made it to a shop in Ynysforgan from where he called the police.
Officers checked CCTV in he McDonald’s, and a sergeant recognised the defendant. When they went to his house, they found Whitcombe hiding in a cupboard.
Whitcombe, of Park Avenue, Plasmarl, Swansea, had previously pleaded guilty to robbery when he appeared in the dock for sentencing.
Judge Paul Thomas told Whitcombe he had committed a “particularly despicable robbery” on a visitor to the city, and sentenced the defendant to six years in prison. He will serve half that time in custody.