A double Dewsbury robber brandished a pair of scissors at a shop worker in a terrifying attack.
During two days in November last year, Steven Lynn tormented shops in Dewsbury as he tried to steal their tills. Leeds Crown Court heard on Wednesday, January 8 that he first targeted the Costcutter store in Brunswick Street on November 5.
Prosecutor Emily Thorbjornsen said Lynn, 38, had gone into the shop earlier that day with another man – and a regular customer – and a member of staff had mentioned it to the owner. She said: “She noted him looking around the shop…He got 10 cans of alcohol and left the shop. Later at around 8.50pm she was stood in the [till] area again and saw the defendant approaching the store on CCTV. He had his face covered but was wearing the same clothing he was wearing earlier that day.
“He entered the store with his hood up and he had pulled the drawstrings tight so only his eyes were visible at that point. CCTV captures the offence.”
On the footage, which was played to the court, shouts of “Get down” could be heard. Ms Thorbjornsen said: “The defendant can be seen coming across a pair of scissors on top of the counter. The Crown’s case is he gestures to the shop worker with them.”
During the robbery, a till which contained £18.50 was taken. Lynn, of Branwell Avenue in Batley, was later identified by the shop worker and a police officer.
The court was told he struck again the next day – this time at a Nisa store at the BP Garage in Halifax Road. Ms Thorbjornsen said: “A worker was at that garage in the early hours of the morning. The defendant was seen stood at the locked sliding doors and the man opened the doors and let him in.
“He was wearing the same clothes as the day before. He walked around and pulled his hood tight around his face and jumped over the counter saying, ‘Open the till.’ The man asked him what he was doing and the defendant was unable to take the till and open it but took notes and coins from a shelf underneath it. Between £560 and £580 was taken.
“The shop worker ran out of the shop and then out onto the forecourt. He said he was scared. The defendant followed him but then left.”
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Ms Thorbjornsen told the court Lynn had previous convictions for 52 offences including robbery. At the time of the two robberies – which he indicated guilty pleas to at the magistrates court – he was on licence for assault occasioning actual bodily harm, burglary and theft of a non-dwelling.
Mitigating, Caroline Abraham said Lynn had written a letter to the court. She said he had described coming from a loving family with supportive parents, but had gone through traumatic experiences as a child.
She said: “His coping mechanism, he tells me, was to misuse alcohol, amphetamines and ecstasy and as an addiction that progressed for decades into adulthood and it has resulted in turbulent relationships. He accepts his offending and his account is that he had been released somewhere out of area with minimal support and came to misuse drink and drugs.
Leeds Crown Court
“You will have read in the letter he expressed genuine remorse and it seems now at the age of 38 that he has had his lightbulb moment and he remorse he expresses in the letter, he has communicated through me today.”
The court heard Lynn is currently at HMP Hull where he said there is a rat infestation. He said there has been no hot water there “for weeks.”
Ms Abraham said: “He has tried making changes in custody, like registering with the darts team, to avoid relapse. He is trying to put the work in and is engaging in education to get work on the railways upon his release. There is a job waiting for him in waste management.”
His Honour Judge Khokhar jailed Lynn for four years.
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