Company director’s concern for city after violent street robbery

A COMPANY director subjected to a violent street robbery has said he no longer feels safe in the city he calls home.

Craig Burton, 53, was walking back to his home in Leeds city centre at about 3am yesterday when two men accosted him.

They attacked him on Crown Street, striking him on the head and body before roughly pulling from his wrist a silver Rolex watch his later mother had given to him for his 40th birthday.

Mr Burton said he had been left shaken, adding: “I’m quite a fit 53-year-old but I feel like I don’t want to leave my apartment now.

“I don’t feel safe in my city any more. I have felt like that for a while.” Mr Burton said the authorities needed to try harder to get the balance right between encouraging Leeds’ night-time economy and keeping citycentre residents safe, saying they had just as much of a right to peace and security as those in outer towns and villages. Mr Burton is director of a Leeds-based recruitment firm and also runs a social enterprise, Friends of Dorothy, which works to connect older and younger members of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community. He said they now do not hold events beyond 6pm for safety reasons.

A police spokesman said: “Enquiries are ongoing and we would we would like to hear from anyone who witnessed the incident or saw the suspects in the area, also, if anyone has been offered a Rolex watch for sale in suspicious circumstances since the incident.”

Chief Inspector Richard Padwell, who heads policing for Leeds city centre, said specialist detectives proactively targeted those committing street robberies, adding: “As with any city centre, there are issues of crime and anti-social behaviour and we continue to work hard in partnership to tackle these.

“On the whole such incidents are still thankfully rare.”