Shop workers across Leeds were terrorised by a baby-faced robber who brandished weapons at them during a crime spree where he stole coats, baby milk and chocolate.
Joshua Felton, 24, began the terrifying spree in October this year when he attended at a Tesco in Selby Road, Halton. On October 30, he was spotted by a manager at the store "helping himself" to chocolate and when confronted held a knife up. Leeds Crown Court heard on Tuesday that the manager dropped the chocolate and ran away before Felton rode off on his bike.
Prosecutor Bashir Ahmed said his second and third offence of robbery took place at a B&M in Colton the next day at around 8.30am. He said: "He filled a drawstring bag with £61 worth of washing and laundry tablets. Two of the B&M employees were aware of what had happened and tried to close the shop's automatic doors. He walked to them holding a knife which he raised towards them as he did so."
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The women stepped aside and once again, Felton got away. In a victim impact statement, one of the staff members at the store said she suffers from anxiety and flashbacks since the incident. She said her "greatest concern" is that she does not know if Felton will return and injure her or other staff members.
She said: "I had just become a grandma and in a second that could have changed, he could have killed me all because he needed a fix. How would he feel if someone pulled a knife on his mother or relative?"
The same day at 4pm, Felton stole coats worth a total of £130 from a Matalan in Selby Road.
The court was told that on November 1 at around 3pm, Felton went back to the Matalan store, this time tucking an amount of ladies' clothing items under his arm. Mr Ahmed said: "A member of staff saw he had a coat but also saw a knife in his right hand. The defendant walked towards her pointing the knife at her while telling her to move and she did so, allowing him to leave and ride off on his bike. She couldn't believe what was happening and felt he would have use it on her if she hadn't had moved out of the way."
At around 4pm on the same day, Felton went to an Asda in Harehills Lane and managed to make off with £120 worth of baby milk after brandishing a knife at a security guard. The court was told that the next day, on November 2, Felton returned to the Matalan store where he was recognised by staff members. While the police were contacted he held a knife up towards staff.
When he was arrested, Felton admitted the offences and said he had been under the influence of crack cocaine and spice at the time. He went on to admit a further 18 offences - five robberies and 13 thefts which had occurred between July and November last year. These offences were taken into consideration by Judge Ray Singh during the sentencing hearing on Tuesday.
Lucy Brown, mitigating, said Felton is still "relatively young" and he did wish for her to tell the court of his regret surrounding his offending. She said: "This is a young man struggling to deal with a variety of things and struggling to obtain help through the right channels. Part of his motivation for committing these offences was a sense of helplessness and a cry for help and desire to put an end to the situation - he couldn't see a way out."
The court was told that while being remanded into custody, Felton was receiving help with his mental health, and has also attempted to take his own life on a number of occasions. Ms Brown added: "This is a young man who is motivated to put his offending behaviour behind him and live a law-abiding life on release."
Judge Singh jailed Felton for six years and told him: "The pre-sentence report highlights personal difficulties in your life, your motivation and your addiction to class A drugs and I take all of these factors into account but equally I take into account the seriousness and grave nature of the offences to which you have pleaded guilty and committed against workers in shop premises which do not and should not face the hostility of customers stealing form their shops and when challenged fear a knife will be brandished at them in close proximity and threats be made.
"That must be a harrowing experience for those working in this environment and the courts will protect them from criminals like yourself."
Following the sentencing, Detective Chief Inspector James Entwistle of Leeds CID said: “We are pleased with the sentence handed to Felton today as this is a significant result following the diligent detective work done by Leeds CID last year. We hope that the staff members, businesses, and the local community who have suffered as a result of Felton’s repeated offending feel reassured that he will now have a lengthy spell in prison to consider his actions.
“This was a frightening ordeal for those involved and we hope this sentence serves as a warning to others of how seriously police and the courts view offences of this nature."
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