‘Put your jacket on, you’re not on the beach’, judge tells vest-clad robber as he locks him up for four years
THUG ROBBED IRAQI YOUTH AND PULLED OUT KNIFE AFTER FLAGGING A MOTORIST DOWN
A JUDGE told a vest-wearing Derby robber “put your jacket on, you’re not on the beach” before sentencing him to more than four years in jail.
Derby Crown Court heard how, after robbing an Iraqi youth outside a McDonald’s in the city, 25-year-old Jordan Birks then saw the victim in Allenton months later and tried to talk him out of testifying against him in court.
In between those offences Binks, of Victory Road, pulled a knife on a man after jumping out on him in the street, forcing the victim to stop his car and threatening to stab him.
Birks entered the dock wearing a white vest but was immediately told by Judge Jonathan Bennett: “First of all, put your jacket on, you are not on the beach now.”
Then, sending him to prison for four and a half years, he said: “The robbery has very serious elements to it. There was a fair element of force used and there was some violence.”
Christopher Jeyes, prosecuting, said the robbery happened near the fast-food takeaway on February 21, 2020.
He said the victim, a young Iraqi youth, was approached by Birks and other members of a group who demanded he handed over money.
Mr Jeyes said when he refused the defendant punched him fourto-five times to the face and then chased him as he tried to flee calling 999.
He said after a struggle his wallet was taken from him and £25 removed before Birks butted him in the face.
Mr Jeyes said after being bailed on that offence Birks saw the victim at Allenton shops on January 24 this year and told him not to go to court.
Then, while on bail for that he committed the knife offence when he jumped out into Clarence Road and forced a driver to stop.
Mr Jeyes said: “He said to him ‘stop and get out or I will shank you’ producing what the victim thought was a knife.
“He said to him ‘I am going to cut you up’ but the victim managed to get away.”
Birks, who was supported from the public gallery by his parents, pleaded guilty to robbery, witness intimidation and threatening someone with a blade.
Benn Robinson, mitigating, said his client had left school with little in the way of qualifications and had remained troublefree until the death of his maternal grandmother, who he was very close to. He said: “He started using cannabis and then alcohol as a way of coping with that. He was abusing it every day as a way of shutting off his brain. “He started associating with people in the local area who were no good for him, encouraging him into this level of offending. “He’s come to court knowing exactly what’s going to happen to him and that shows a degree of maturity and courage.”
It was not said in court if any other members of the group involved in the robbery have been arrested, charged, or dealt with by the courts.
He said to him ‘stop and get out or I will shank you’
Christopher Jeyes, prosecuting