Thugs jailed for robbing 17-year-old (From Dorset Echo)

Thugs jailed for robbing 17-year-old

11:00am Saturday 9th February 2013 in News By Harry Hogger

TWO MEN who robbed a teenager near a Weymouth supermarket have been jailed.

Anthony James Lamount, 32, was jailed for 26 months while co-defendant Reece James Mason, 22, received a 16-month sentence for what Judge Roger Jarvis des-cribed as ‘a very unpleasant street robbery’.

Prosecutor Stuart Ellacott told Dorchester Crown Court that the 17-year-old victim, who cannot be named because of his age, had been to the Asda store in Weymouth with friends at around 8.30pm on September 27 last year when they were confronted by the two defendants outside.

He said the defendants, both of no fixed abode, became ‘somewhat threatening’ towards the group, causing most of the victim’s friends to flee.

Mr Ellacott said: “He was then grabbed by Mr Mason by the front of his jumper and pushed up against a van and asked what he had in his pocket.

“He was moved a little further up the road away from his friends and struck in the face by Mason before again being moved further up the road.”

The teenager was forced to empty his pockets and claimed Mason took around £10 in cash from him, although the defendant said in a basis of plea that he had actually taken £10 worth of cannabis.

Judge Jarvis said whether it was cash or cannabis made little difference when it came to the sentencing of the defendants.

Mr Ellacott told the court that Mason had eight previous convictions for 11 offences, including one of assault, while his co-defendant Lamount had 28 convictions for 52 offences including battery, theft and racially aggravated assault.

David Lyons, representing Mason, said that his client had pleaded guilty to the robbery at the first opportunity.

He added that Mason had been diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder after facing an accusation of murder back in 2009, for which he was acquitted of the following year after spending several months in prison on remand.

Mr Lyons said: “It had a terrible effect on his mind. When he came out he started drinking to excess and abusing cannabis.”

Lee Christmas, representing Lamount, said that although his client had only pleaded guilty on the day he was due to stand trial his role in the offence had been minimal.

He said: “His role is a role on the periphery.

“He did not assault the complainant, although present, and he does not take the items.”

As he sentenced the two defendants Judge Roger Jarvis said: “You both took part in a very unpleasant street robbery.

“It must have been deeply distressing to your victim to be confronted by the pair of you behaving like bullies, seeing your victim and taking advantage of him in the way that you admit.”