BY ROD HOPKINSON
A merciless street robber has been locked up for six years after he left a pensioner unconscious and a student traumatised when he brutally attacked them and stole their handbags.
Ishmael James was sentenced by a Leeds Crown Court Judge who told him the two women had suffered a "horrifying experience."
Judge Ian Dobkin said James, only 16, could be named in the public interest because of the serious crimes he had carried Dimmable LED Down Light K1038 - 8x1W / 8x3W out.
James, of Iveson Drive, Ireland Wood, Leeds, pleaded guilty to robbing 70-year-old Hilda Gregg while she was walking to shops and a similar offence on a Greek student, aged 21, when she was on her way home after work.
The pensioner was ambushed at lunchtime on November 25 last year on a path between Holtdale Approach and Farrar Lane, Holt Park.
James grabbed her by the throat from behind and dragged her to the floor and grabbed her bag and shopping. He then kicked her about the head and body, leaving her unconscious, said Khadim Al'Hassan, prosecuting.
She was found by a passer-by vomiting blood and with cuts to the back of her head, which had to be stitched in hospital.
Other injuries she suffered includied a cut to an ear and extensive bruising to her face, arms and back. She also lost two front teeth.
Mr Al'Hassan said the description she gave to police after the savage assault was vague.
But she remembered James had been wearing a red scarf covering his face. Items stolen from her were found nearby during an investigation, together with the scarf.
Dimmable LED Bulb GB-G60-6WThe garment was sent for scientific examination, which revealed James had been wearing it and fibres found on the scarf came from the elderly woman's clothing.
Since the attack Mrs Gregg had difficulty going out, fearing she was going to be attacked in the future and had moved from Cookridge to the countryside to try to rebuild her life, the court heard.
Exactly a month earlier, on October 25, James had savagely attacked the student as she walked home after finishing work at the Village complex on Kirkstall Road. James, wearing a hooded jacket, threw his arms around her neck and dragged her to the floor.
"He sat on top of her and while holding her hair with one hand he repeatedly punched her with his other hand," said Mr Al'Hassan.
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"When she realised he was only after the bag, she gladly allowed him to take it and he ran off."
Timothy Stead, in mitigation, said James had a difficult adolescence.
"His biggest difficulty has been the turbulence of his upbringing, which is not his fault," he said.
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