A pensioner was mugged by heartless thugs in McDonald's who thought he was 'easy prey' after buying one of them a cup of tea. The 77-year-old entered the fast food chain at 7am on May 9 to buy his breakfast and was quickly joined at his table by the culprits.
Wayne Mason, 37, sat down at the table with the pensioner first. Moments later he was joined by Michael Batley, 44, who has 350 previous offences, Hull Crown Court heard.
The pensioner then placed his order and took his wallet out to pay, while the duo hung around the counter. Mason then asked the pensioner to buy him a cup of tea.
Mason appeared to thank the elderly man by shaking his arm and bumping elbows. The pensioner headed towards the door, with Mason and Batley following.
Suddenly the pensioner heard one of the men say: "Get him. He has the wallet." The victim was grabbed and heard one of the men say "Get the wallet and then let's get out of here.", reports Hull Live.
Mason and Batley ran off with the wallet. The elderly victim suffered bruises and an ache in his elbow.
A witness heard a commotion and saw the two robbers wrestling with the pensioner. "They were shouting at him, reaching into his pockets and ordering him to hold still," said Miss Baines. "He looked extremely distressed and could not move as the defendants were overpowering him."
He saw Batley reach into the pensioner's right pocket and grab his wallet before running off. He confronted Mason, who made disparaging remarks that the victim "deserved all he got". Mason became abusive and threatening before running in the same direction as Batley.
"There was force being used on him by two defendants here," said Miss Baines. "This victim was targeted due to his vulnerability. There is an element of premeditation here. Mason had seen the wallet with the bank notes within it."
Some younger males ran after the robbers and one of them spotted a brown wallet on the ground. "There was no money within it, only cards," said Miss Baines. "The two defendants were standing outside the Dark History Museum on West Street and were sharing money out between themselves.
"Mason handed £100 to one of the younger males and both defendants then started to walk off." The original witness confronted them and Mason became angry and aggressive. He threw £60 onto the ground before they both left towards Ferensway.
The witness returned to the pensioner and gave him his money back. "He was very shaken up," said Miss Baines.
Mason was arrested at 9.50am in Adelaide Street. He denied being involved in the robbery but said that he knew about it. "He said that Michael Batley was responsible and he had seen him do it," added Miss Baines.
Batley was arrested at 4.30pm and later said: "I don't do robbery. The last one was a shop theft gone wrong."
The 77-year-old victim had been living independently up until June, with the support of carers visiting daily, but he was now in a care home. He had "impaired cognition and memory" now.
Recorder Ashley Serr told Batley and Mason: "Your victim was a man of advancing years and he was not in very good health." The pensioner showed kindness by buying at least one of them a cup of tea but they repaid that by robbing him after targeting him in a frightening robbery because he was "weak, vulnerable and easy prey".
Batley and Mason were each jailed for three years and seven months
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