Masked teens went on reign of terror

THEY ATTACKED AND ROBBED IN SERIES OF OFFENCES

TWO teenagers behind a series of terrifying robberies posed for pictures with weapons to give the impression they were gangsters.

Images on their phones indicated the pair had a “fascination at the time with weapons” and a “criminal lifestyle”.

A 15-year-old, who is now 16 and cannot be indentified, was sentenced to a total of eight years and ten months in custody at Nottingham Crown Court.

Logan Davies, now 19, was sentenced to 11 years and two months.

Jon Fountain, prosecuting, said the pair had pleaded guilty to a series of street robberies with knives, imitation firearms and hammers in and around Nottingham, and in Skegness in July and August last year.

The victim of one robbery, carried out on August 14, was a man taking his dog for a walk via Robin Hood Chase, St Ann’s.

The two masked men walked towards him as he sat on a bench. One of the masks was black with a white smile, white teeth and a red tongue, and the robber had what looked like a knuckleduster in his hand.

Davies punched the man twice to the mouth. The victim needed four stitches to his mouth. The robbers took his Samsung Galaxy phone, watch, change and keys.

The victim said in a statement that he still sees the face mask as part of a flashback when he closes his eyes.

Two men were robbed at gunpoint on The Forest recreation ground.

The robberies were with a third person. The men were threatened and struck with an imitation firearm and racist comments were made.

Four robberies and attempted robberies involved the defendants inflicting hammer blows on two young people celebrating their exam results in Skegness.

A video of images discovered after their crimes showed that the youth and Davies “shared both a fascination with weapons and living a criminal lifestyle”, said Mr Fountain.

“That fascination was not merely bravado. They pleaded to robberies and using weapons to assault and injure victims.”

The youth became accustomed to a lifestyle of partying and drugs and his lifestyle rapidly spiralled out of control, the court heard. He committed the robberies to fund that lifestyle.

Judge Steven Coupland said most of the offences were in the late evening or early hours of the morning. Injuries were caused to some of the victims and sometimes references were made in derogatory terms about either sexual orientation or race.

The judge said: “From material on your phones that indicated you had a fascination at that time with weapons and what has been described as a criminal lifestyle. Posing with photos with knives and guns and poses you struck were to give the impression you were gangsters”. The youth was charged with 13 robberies; two attempted robberies; possessing an offensive weapon; possessing an imitation firearm imitation with Intent to cause fear of violence, and possessing a blade. Davies, of King’s Avenue, Gedling, was also sentenced for two attempted robberies, possessing a bladed article, possessing an imitation firearm and possessing an offensive weapon.

They shared both a fascination with weapons and living a criminal lifestyle

Jon Fountain, prosecuting