Brazen Leeds street robber stole wallet of officer who generously gave him lift from police station
Homeless thug who attacked members of the public stole the wallet of an officer who generously gave him a ride back into city centre.
A violent thug who attacked and robbed two passers-by also stole a policeman’s bank cards after he kindly offered to drive him back into Leeds.
Having been questioned, Adam Kirkpatrick was sneakily able to take the officer’s wallet from his bag in the police car, then went on a spending spree.
The 37-year-old was jailed for more than five years after admitting two counts of robbery, ABH, theft and fraud by false representation.
Leeds Crown Court heard that having been in custody at the station in July of last year, the kind-hearted officer then offered Kirkpatrick a lift into the city centre.
He took his wallet during the journey without being detected, then spent £75 in Sainsbury’s on Albion Street using the bank card.
He then tried to spend more in Tesco. The officer received an alert and quickly cancelled his bank cards.
But Kirkpatrick went on to commit more serious crimes - two robberies minutes apart on February 17 of this year.
He approached a man from behind on Kirkgate at 6.15am and punched him repeatedly. The man tried to run by Kirkpatrick snatched his bag and fled.
There were around £1,100 worth of items in the bag including a laptop. The man suffered a broken nose and still requires treatment, prosecutor Jessica Lister told the court.
But 20 minutes after the first robbery, he followed another man and began abusing him. As the terrified man tried to flee he was chased and Kirkpatrick snatched his phone as he tried to call the police.
He also punched him to the floor before running off with the phone.
He was later arrested in the city centre and still had the stolen items, which were later returned to the victims.
Kirkpatrick has 34 previous convictions for 56 offences, including thefts and violence.
He appeared in court this week over a video link from HMP Leeds.
Mitigating, Andrew Petterson said Kirkpatrick had penned a letter in which he “apologised first and foremost to the victims for his behaviour”.
He said Kirkpatrick had little recollection of the robberies having been under the influence of drugs.
Judge Alex Menary jailed him for a total of 64 months.