A KNIFEPOINT robber who committed a raft of offences while subject to a crown court suspended sentence has been jailed for almost five-and-a-half years.

Kyle Ricketts’ co-defendant in the Swindon town centre robbery, heavily convicted Jay May, 19, was put away for two-and-a-half years.

Sending 21-year-old Ricketts to prison for five years and four months, Judge Jason Taylor QC said: “This was a spree of offending where you were behaving like a drunken thug and people were either frightened by you or injured by you because your behaviour was so out of control.”

Robbery

Prosecutor David Maunder said Ricketts and May’s 19-year-old male victim had been walking along Cambria Bridge Road when he saw a group of four – including the two defendants. It was December 11, 2019, Ricketts’ 20th birthday.

He sensed there was going to be trouble when Ricketts asked the teen for his name. May punched the man to the floor. The victim curled into a ball and was kicked by the group.

A third man, who has not been identified, produced a four inch kitchen knife and asked for the victim’s watch. Also stolen were a rucksack and the man’s phone, which had fallen from his pocket. The items were later recovered.

Spree

On February 16 last year, Ricketts launched a bizarre attack on the front door of his parents’ neighbour’s home in Watling Close, Rodbourne. When the male homeowner opened the door he was struck by a metal stool. Ricketts, shocked, fled from the scene. Deep cuts were later found in the bodywork of the homeowners’ new Vauxhall Astra. Another neighbour discovered a smashed pane of glass in a greenhouse, caused when Ricketts was hopping fences as he tried to hide from an abusive family member.

When police arrived they could see he was extremely drunk. He was arrested and cautioned, replying: “I don’t care.”

On June 17, a month after he was handed a 20 month suspended sentence for supplying drugs to an undercover police officer, he was back in trouble. He turned up drunk to meet his former partner, who was 27 weeks pregnant with his child at the time, at Swindon railway station.

He followed her towards Fleming Way, tried to stop her from calling the police and was demanded she give him a day rider bus ticket and his mobile phone – neither of which she had. A member of the public tried to intervene after seeing Ricketts push the pregnant woman. The defendant threatened to fight the man.

Police later hammered down Ricketts’ door in Westlea. He later told the officers he’d not opened it as he thought they needed a warrant to get in. He was remorseful, saying his own experience of domestic abuse meant he knew you should “never push a woman especially when pregnant”.

Four months later, on October 26, police were tailing a moped on the Great Western Way as it appeared to have “an unusual number of legs dangling either side”. The bike pulled into Starbucks and two men, who weren’t wearing helmets, dismounted.

A police officer spoke to Ricketts as he was parking the motorcycle and, suspecting the bike was stolen, went to arrest him. The rider turned on the police officer and his colleague, using his helmet as a weapon and pulling the female officer’s hair. A bus driver who happened to be passing by, pulled over and went to the officers’ aid. He was bitten in the arm by Ricketts.

The following month, having been released on bail by the magistrates, Ricketts went back to his home in Westlea while his ex-partner – who he was banned from contacting – was at the house collecting her belongings. He followed her upstairs to the bedroom and crushed a lightbulb in his hand. She tried to placate him then called the police.

Ricketts and two friends tried to escape over the back wall. His friends managed to get away but Ricketts, who was drunk, could not manage it. He grappled with a male police officer, “donkey kicked” him, punched him, then attempted to get a dog in the garden to attack the officer.

Inside his rucksack, officers found 41 bags of cannabis, £220 cash and a mobile phone. Although he was arrested on suspicion of possession with intent to supply cannabis, a lack of drug messages on the phone resulted in the charge being bumped down to simple possession.

Mitigation

Emma Handslip, for Ricketts, said her client had experienced significant trauma in his childhood and suffered from poor mental health. He had turned to alcohol. She said it was a “sad tale” for someone who had relatively few convictions up until 2019 that his life had spiralled out of control. Since being on remand he had started education courses, had a prison job and was an enhanced prisoner.

Rob Ross, for May, said, he had been groomed as a younger teenager, resulting in a conviction for dealing class A drugs when he was 15. He had long struggled with his mental health. However, he was turning his life around and now had his own flat and a job.

Judge Taylor praised May’s efforts. “You are in a relationship and you have employment and that’s greatly to your credit to have achieved employment in a pandemic. I hope you can keep up that attitude in the future.”

Ricketts, of Jenni Manners Court, Westlea, admitted robbery, assaulting an emergency worker, assault by beating, possession of cannabis, driving without insurance or licence and failing to provide a specimen. He also admitted breaching a suspended sentence order. He received five years and four months’ imprisonment and will be banned from driving for 18 months upon his release from prison.

May, of Harding Street, town centre, pleaded guilty to robbery. He was sentenced to two years and six months’ imprisonment.

Praise for hero bus driver

Judge Taylor awarded £500 from the public purse to the bus driver who stopped to help the police officers in October. He said: “He fulfilled a public role and for his troubles he got a bite, which is particularly nasty. It certainly seems to me he’s entitled to a Sheriff’s Award and I am happy to do that.

“The fact of the matter is he – with great bravery and no regard for his own safety – acted on instinct and went to the assistance of police officers in trouble.”