Man jailed for robbing teen (From Swindon Advertiser)

Man jailed for robbing teen

6:30pm Wednesday 27th June 2012 in News

A MAN who robbed a teenager at knifepoint outside mugger’s alley has been jailed for two and a half years.

Mitchell Hicks targeted the youngster because he had been trying to get his former girlfriend to store drugs for him.

The 21-year-old and an accomplice chased him and pinned him down close to the Oasis Leisure Centre before raining blows on him.

Hicks then produced the knife which he said he held to the boy’s chest before they took his phone and wallet.

Giving evidence at a hearing in April, the teenager said he was going to North Star at about 6pm on September 4 when he saw the pair on their bikes.

He said he only knew Hicks from his school days in Wroughton and the pair initially passed him as they went into the underpass leading to Station Road. But they doubled back, cycling towards him and covering their faces as they approached.

Judge Douglas Field was shown CCTV footage of the pair from a camera put there to try and stop muggings at the notorious underpass. The victim ran off but they caught him and he said kicked him to the head and body while shouting ‘Where’s your wallet, where’s your phone?’.

Hicks, of Ferndale Road, accepted they chased him but insisted they only punched him and were shouting ‘Where are your drugs?’.

He then pulled a knife from his pocket, and the victim said put it to his neck, though the attackers only accepted holding it close to him.

Although they accepted stealing the phone, they claimed his wallet fell out in the struggle and it was picked up and taken.

The victim, who works at the hospital as a theatre support worker, accepted he may have had some mephedrone in his pocket from a party the night before.

Under cross-examination Rob Ross, defending, put to him that he had been trying to get Hicks’ former partner to store drugs for him.

The victim initially denied he had been in contact with her for a long time, but later accepted he may have texted her that weekend. Following the trial of issue the judge ruled he had contacted the woman about storing drugs.

Mr Ross said his client accepted he faced a jail term as he was the leading player in the incident and produced the knife.

At the time he said his client had been a very heavy user of skunk cannabis which undoubtedly led to paranoia.

He said Hicks was a devoted father to the child he had with his ex-partner, who he is still fond of.

Matthew McPherson, 18,of East Street, Swindon was put on a one year jail term suspended for two years at an earlier hearing. Both had admitted robbery.