Shropshire Star

River Severn jump drug addict is jailed for four years

A fleeing robber who jumped into the River Severn in Shrewsbury in a bungled bid to escape police has been jailed for four years.

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Troy Hevingham was out of prison on a lifelong licence when he robbed a jewellers, assaulted a police officer and burgled a flat, a court heard.

When police gave chase, the 38-year-old punched, kicked and kneed an officer before running into a flat then leaping into the river – only to be fished out and arrested.

The heroin addict robbed Amy Smith who was working in Snooty Fox jewellers on Wyle Cop, Shrewsbury telling her: "I'm sorry I have to do this I am going to die soon."

He stole £180 cash from the till before demanding her mobile phone but she bravely refused saying it contained pictures of her children.

Hevingham threatened her: "Don't call the police or I'll be back," before fleeing in the direction of Kingsland, Mr Robert Edwards, prosecuting told Shrewsbury Crown Court.

But the quick-thinking jeweller did call the police with a full description of Hevingham and officers in the area were alerted.

Pc Simon Portman parked his police car on Kingsland Bridge and saw a man matching the description running towards him and asked him to stop.

Hevingham threw a can of alcohol which missed the officer's head before there was a struggle and PC Portman used his CS spray.

But Hevingham continued to punch, kick and knee the officer before breaking free and running into a flat above a rowing club boat house where Tamsin Essex was at home with her two-year-old child.

The woman screamed when she came face-to-face with the intruder who had her iPod in his hand.

He dropped the iPod and ran out of the property before jumping into the river - but he did not stay in the water long before swimming to the side where police arrested him.

While being questioned Hevingham admitted to being the sweet-toothed robber who stole £50 and swiped a handful of Snickers on his way out of Ditherington News in Mount Pleasant Road on October 28.

He told the shop assistant he needed the money because his family was dying.

Hevingham, of High Street in Clive, near Wem, had previously entered guilty pleas to two counts of robbery and charges of burglary and common assault which all happened on November 3.

Mr Dean Easthope, defending, said the crimes were "the acts of a desperate man in the grips of addiction."

Judge Graham Huston sentenced Hevingham to a total of 52 months in prison.

Following the sentencing, Chief Inspector Tom Harding, of West Mercia Police, said: "I am happy that following some excellent police work Hevingham has been sentenced to 52 months in prison ensuring the victims receive justice and the community is a safer place."

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