Six years jail for robber who attacked Lidl car park litter picker
A thug who attacked and robbed a litter picker and woman shopper on successive days has been jailed for six and a half years.
Dean Humphries first struck while Michael Boswell was clearing the McDonald's and Lidl car parks in Bilston High Street at 8.30am on September 27, a judge heard.
The victim had given the 39-year-old defendant £10 on an earlier occasion because he felt sorry for him, said Mr Jasvir Mann, prosecuting told Wolverhampton Crown Court.
But when Humphries kept pestering him for more money Mr Bowell lost his temper and angrily told him to go away.
The defendant responded by punching the 55-year-old to the ground where he was kicked to the body while trying to fend off the blows with his litter picker.
The attacker then fled with the victim's wallet that held around £100 cash and several bank cards leaving him with a badly swollen black eye, cut nose and painful hip.
The following day Ms Sehen Woldeyes was waiting to cross the main road close to Railway Drive in Bilston when Humphries grabbed her handbag as he walked past.
The woman, who is in her 40s, bravely hung on to the bag and a tug-of-war started with the defendant becoming increasingly aggressive and abusive, continued the prosecutor.
Then Ms Woldeyes fell into some bushes after losing her balance but still did not let go and was dragged across the ground until the bag burst open and spilled its contents.
She was punched in the face as she desperately crawled around picking up her phone and other items before he ran off with the handbag, that at this stage of the five minute struggle only contained a set of keys and £20 cash.
Mr Graham Russell, defending, conceded that Humphries, who had served two prison sentences of four or more years for earlier robberies, had used "gratuitous and significant violence."
He explained that the defendant had returned to heroin and cocaine after his stable relationship had collapsed and did not have enough money to run his home but had recently quit drugs again and the lawyer concluded: "His hopes of rehabilitation may not be completely extinguished at the age of 39."
Humphries from Dawson Square, Bilston pleaded guilty to the two robberies and was sent to prison by Recorder David Mason QC who said: "These were offences of prolonged nature which took place on consecutive days."
