Thugs jailed for terrifying Wolverhampton city centre attack

A travelling businessman looking for his hotel in Wolverhampton was headbutted and robbed during a "terrifying" city centre attack, a court heard.

The 31-year-old had been in the city centre when James Rafferty and Matthew Gardner, who have now been jailed, approached him and asked him for directions.

Wolverhampton Crown Court was told how the men began chatting to their victim, and Rafferty blocked his path and was "in his face" when the victim tried to walk away in Summer Row.

Mr Gary Cook, prosecuting, said: "Both demanded that he empty his pockets and he felt intimated and threatened. He handed over two phones but withheld his wallet and was then headbutted by Rafferty."

Mr Cook said the victim, who is from Leeds but who works in Wolverhampton, was "scared but not injured" and handed over his wallet before fleeing.

He alerted police who drove him around until he he spotted the pair at around 4.30am and became upset and began crying.

The men had used the cards to withdraw £260 from a cashpoint before they were arrested.

Rafferty, aged 41, of Hamilton Gardens, Bushbury, and 28-year-old Gardner, of Arnhem Road, Willenhall, admitted the robbery, which happened in the early hours of January 22.

Gardner's lawyer argued the judge could suspend a prison sentence, but Judge Martin Walsh told the court that the public would be "dismayed" if he did not jail him.

He told the defendants: "This was a terrifying incident for a visitor to this city.

"Any robbery is viewed seriously by the courts and there was a degree of planning in the sense that the victim was chosen for what took place."

He jailed Rafferty for three years and Gardner for two. Mr Jon Roe, defending Gardner, said: "He had consumed a lot of alcohol and he's not a man used to drinking in any great quantities."

Mr John Brotherton, for Rafferty, said he had married in August and despite previous convictions for burglary and headbutting another victim, he was now a "family man" who had turned over a new leaf.