'Predatory' addict cleared of brutal 'Isis-type' murder jailed for terrifying Leeds street robberies
A desperate drug addict who tried to rob a frail pensioner outside her home has been jailed, two years after he was cleared of murder.
Patrick Mason attempted to snatch the handbag from around the woman’s neck after following her from the shop, then two days later pulled a knife on two terrified females, stealing thousands of pounds worth of personal belongings.
The 37-year-old was jailed at Leeds Crown Court after it was heard he displayed “predatory behaviour” having followed his female victims before striking.
Mason had been released from remand in 2023 having been cleared of the brutal slaying of Bradley Wall in Beeston, who was fatally beaten with a paving slab.
Mason was present, but it was his friend Aiden Ramsdale who was convicted of the savage killing.
Mitigating for the robbery offences, his barrister Matthew Donkin said Mason returned to his drug-addicted lifestyle less than a day after being cleared of murder.
He said: “He was released from the court building with a prison tracksuit and not a penny in his pocket.
“He was given advice to stay away from his previous lifestyle. It lasted around 18 hours or so - not even a day. He found himself back into drugs. He found himself unable to resist.”
Needing money to fund his spiralling drug habit, the court heard that Mason had followed his first robbery target, a 71-year-old woman, around Iceland on Dewsbury Road on November 16 last year.
He was thrown out by staff, but he then loitered around outside until the woman, who walks with a stick and was being helped by her two granddaughters, left the shop. He continued to follow them as they walked the short distance home.
When the woman got outside her house, Mason pounced and tried to snatch the bag from around her neck. They tussled for a minute before the strap snapped and he ran off.
Just two days later he and another male followed two females through Leeds city centre at around 1am.
The women noticed the men, who approached them on Bridgewater Place and inquired about whether a nearby Tesco was open.
With their faces covered, Mason then pulled out a 15cm knife, lunged at them and said: “I will stab you if you do not give me all of your belongings.”
Terrified, they handed over their items which included a Calvin Klein bag, credit cards, £140 in cash, iPhone, iPad and Apple Airpods. The total value of items they got away with from the two women came to more than £3,500.
He later tried to use the stolen credit cards in the Jet garage on Dewsbury Road, Beeston - the same garage he used the stolen bank card of murdered Bradley Wall in 2022.
Identified by police, he was later arrested but denied the offences, claiming he was more prone to shoplifting, but not robbery.
He has 43 previous convictions for 97 offences - of which 55 are for thefts.
Appearing in court via video link from HMP Leeds, he admitted two counts of robbery, one of attempted robbery and possession of a bladed article.
Mr Donkin said he had a “lifelong addiction” to drugs and could not recall the robberies. He said: “He wishes to express through me his great shame and remorse and the effect it has had on his victims.”
The judge, Recorder Ella Anderson said these crimes had been an “escalation in his offending”. She jailed him for nine years.
Bradley Wall had been savagely murdered after being befriended by Mason and Ramsdale in Beeston in the early hours of June 23, 2022. The 25-year-old went with them to Ramsdale’s flat on Fairford Avenue, possibly to buy drugs.
A short time later he was either thrown out of or jumped from the second-floor window of the flat before being beaten with the paving slab picked up by Ramsdale.
Despite the incident being caught on CCTV from a nearby school, and Ramsdale confessing to his father about attacking Mr Wall with the slab - even boasting that it was like an “Isis-type killing” - Ramsdale persistently denied the murder, trying to blame Mason.
Ramsdale was eventually jailed in January 2023 for life, to serve a minimum 34 years. Mason was cleared of both murder and manslaughter.