Robber who knifed addict on way to buy heroin is jailed
A heroin addict went to a block of flats to buy drugs from a dealer and ended up being robbed at knifepoint in a lift, a court heard.
The victim went to Miller Heights in Lower Stone Street in Maidstone one afternoon in February and called the dealer from outside.
He was then joined by careercriminal Carl Garwood, calling himself CJ, who also contacted the supplier.
Garwood told the other man the dealer did not want them to go up to his flat and that they should wait further down the road.
They did so but soon afterwards Garwood, 50, declared they should go up together. They went past security staff and into the lift. But prosecutor Ed Fowler said after the button was pressed for the second floor and the doors closed, Garwood pushed the other man in the chest, making him stumble back.
“He felt something sharp being pushed into the right side of his neck,” Mr Fowler told a jury at Maidstone Crown Court. “He said: ‘Give us your money now or I really will do some damage. Pass your wallet.’ The defendant was pressing the knife harder and harder into his neck. He was terrified.” The victim handed over his wallet. Garwood took out £70 and threw it back. He also snatched the man’s mobile phone, saying ‘I am having that and all’.
After returning to the ground floor, he ran off. The victim followed. He went to the High Street and asked someone to call the police. An officer arrived and saw he had a cut to his neck. His phone was found and handed into police.
Mr Fowler said Garwood was identified as the prime suspect and the victim picked him out of an identification procedure.
Garwood, also said to be an alcoholic, of St James Street, Maidstone, denied robbery, but was convicted.
Jailing him for six years, Judge Mark Dennis said: “You of all people should have known the effects of your conduct and how frightening it was for someone in his position.”
‘Give us your money now or I really will do some damage’