A cruel couple said they loved each other as they were jailed for a violent attack on a pensioner.
Dale Kedge, 37, and Chloe Walker, 24, targeted the 73-year-old after spotting him trying to get his phone and money back from the woman they were living with. Leeds Crown Court heard on Tuesday the man thought he was going to be entering a relationship with his neighbour - who Walker and Kedge were staying with in Gipton - and when he thought she had been "taking advantage of his feelings" asked for the money and phone he had borrowed her.
Prosecutor Heather Gilmore told the court: "He knocked [on her door] and there was no answer. Dale Kedge opened the window and told him she wasn't in and to go away.
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The woman then came to the door and told him to go home. Dale Kedge told him to go home or he would 'get him.' Her boyfriend made threats."
The man waited for five hours, it was said, before leaving without his phone and money. The next day, March 4 this year, when they were moving out of the woman's house, Kedge and Walker spotted the man who had been to see if he could get his items again, with no luck.
Ms Gilmore said: "The defendants and another man were across the road. Dale Kedge recognised the man and he was carrying a sofa which he put down, walked up to the man making threats and referred to the exchange the day before saying 'Come on then' in his face. Chloe Walker hit him first and Dale Kedge pushed him against a parked car and restrained him."
The court heard Walker took the man's wallet and hit his nose, causing him to bleed. After the pair walked away, the other man they were with returned the victim's wallet to him. When he approached a passerby to ask them to call the police, Kedge then threatened them.
It was said the victim was eventually taken to hospital and had suffered bruising to his face, a swollen nose, and cuts and bruising to his face. Ms Gilmore said Kedge had 38 convictions for 88 offences on his record, including 14 against a person. Walker had 11 previous convictions for 30 offences.
Both had been sentenced in 2022 for another, similar joint attack - this time on a man whose phone they had taken in Leeds city centre. Both were on licence at the time they assaulted the pensioner.
Mitigating, Stuart Field, said both Walker and Kedge were charged with robbery, but pleaded guilty to assault occasioning actual bodily harm, which was accepted by the prosecution. He said their situations differing slightly - with Kedge not being the subject of a pre-sentence report and Walker refusing one.
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The barrister said: "The reason [she gave] was that she committed the offence and she deserves a custodial sentence for it and for that reason 'I see no purpose in working with the probation service with a view to a non-custodial sentence.' I ask you to accept that as something that amplifies the remorse she shows."
His Honour Judge Stubbs KC said the pair had left their "vulnerable" victim "bloodied and bruised." He jailed them both for 18 months.
The pair said their goodbyes over video link from their respective prisons. Kedge told Walker: "I love you Chloe." She responded: "I love you too," before he said: "Mwah, visiting's next week."
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