Jail for man who made two bizarre robbery attempts within minutes in Telford - pretending to be a policeman and having a foot race for £20
A man from Telford who tried to commit two street robberies within minutes of each other threatened to “slit the throat” of one of his victims and “shank” the other.
Shaun Collier, aged 44, displayed bizarre behaviour when he tried to rob two men in separate incidents in the middle of Oakengates, Telford, including having a foot race with one and telling the other he was a policeman arresting him for viewing child sex abuse images.
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Shrewsbury Crown Court was told how at around 8.30pm on November 27 last year, a takeaway delivery driver was sitting in his car near The Old Fighting Cocks pub in Market Street, Oakengates when he saw two men.
One of them, Collier, approached his window and peered in.
He told the driver he needed money. The driver thought Collier must be homeless and offered him a couple of pounds.
Collier said that it wasn’t enough. He told the driver that the other man was from Latvia and was going to rob him.
“The defendant tried to make the conversation a joke before switching to being serious,” said Simon Parry, prosecuting.
Collier then claimed he was a police officer, and told the victim to put his hands out because he was being arrested “for viewing child porn”.
He then told the victim he did not want to rob him, but his Latvian friend did, and then lifted his top up to show a knife handle tucked into his waistband.
“What is stopping me from f***ing slitting your throat?” Collier asked the victim.
The victim told Collier that if he had money, he would give it to him. Collier said they should go to a cash machine, and tried to get into the back seat of the car before the victim closed it.
The victim told Collier to come round the other side of the car and sit in the front so they could go to the cashpoint together. As Collier walked round, the victim got his engine started and fled to the Chinese takeaway he worked for.
Once he felt he was safely away, he called 999.
About 10 minutes later, the victim saw Collier walk past the Chinese and phoned police again to tell them where he was.
Collier, though, was on his way to try and rob his next victim.
A man who was at a different takeaway in the town centre left to walk towards the railway station.
Two men approached him before one moved away.
Collier told the man that he had just stopped him from being robbed, and that he needed £20.
The victim said he didn’t have any money, so Collier showed him a knife handle tucked into his trousers and told him the other man had a revolver gun.
He said: “If you don’t have cash, let’s go to the ATM.”
The victim agreed, but deliberately took Collier to a busy area where there were people around, and told Collier he was going to call the police.
Collier replied: “The police aren’t going to do s***. I’ll beat you up and I’ll shank you.”
The victim bought some time by offering to race Collier, saying if Collier won, he would give him £20.
They started running, but the victim stopped at a pub and got the attention of two men, who he told what was happening.
The two men did not react and Collier told the victim: “Now you’re f***ed. This is my pub. They aren’t going to help you.”
The victim ran home, locked the door, went upstairs and phoned the police.
Collier followed him all the way there, and could be seen outside, attacking the bins with a knife, before eventually leaving.
A few hours later, Collier was arrested by police. He had a knife in his possession.
Back at the police station, Collier gave a “no comment” interview to officers.
Collier, of Daisy Bank Drive, Dawley, Telford, pleaded guilty to two counts of attempted robbery.
Danny Smith, mitigating, said Collier had fallen out with his mother over inheritance money.
“She was refusing to give him any of it, rightly due to his addiction difficulties,” Mr Smith said.
Collier found himself on the streets.
As Judge Peter Barrie started delivering his sentencing remarks, Collier apologised from inside the dock.
“I’m glad you’re sorry now, and I’m glad that looking back on it, you realise how badly you behaved,” the judge told him.
“You must have terrified both of them, threatening each of them with serious harm if they didn’t do as you demanded.
“Having shown them the handle of the knife in your waistband, they must have been just as frightened as they would have been if you waved it in front of them.”
The judge jailed Collier for three years. It is expected he will serve 40 per cent of the time behind bars before being released on licence.