Woman jailed for knifepoint Leeds street robbery of deaf man on mobility scooter
A woman attacked a deaf man on mobility scooter, slashing him with a knife as she tried to rob him.
Lauren Wilson-Brooke was jailed at Leeds Crown Court following a trial.
The 29-year-old was found guilty of robbery and possession of a knife in public.
She appeared in court this week over a video link from HMP New Hall, where she was being held on remand, and was sentenced to four years.
The court heard that the victim and his friend had been travelling along the street in Harehills on the morning of May 5 last year.
Wilson-Brooke began to follow them and “pester them”, prosecutor Anthony Moore said.
The court was told the man on the scooter was deaf and needed to lip read.
When they reached Florence Street, near Harehills Labour Club, she stood in front of them.
The second victim walked away but Wilson-Brooke pulled out a knife and told the man on the mobility scooter to hand over his money.
He refused and stood up to protect himself as she attacked him, stabbing him in the leg and slashing the seat of his vehicle.
She took £15 from him and fled. Witnesses came to the man’s aid. Suffering from shock, his leg wound did not require treatment.
Wilson-Brooke was arrested later that day. During her police interview she said she had never met the victim.
Denying wrongdoing, during her trial she falsely claimed she was a sex worker and that the victim had not paid her for services, but was not believed by the jury.
Mitigating, Chris Moran said that “thankfully” no serious injury was caused to the victim.
He said that Wilson-Brooke was a heroin addict but was now tackling the issue behind bars. She is now on a methadone prescription with a view to becoming clean.
The court heard that Wilson-Brooke, of no fixed address, has 14 previous convictions, many for theft offences but none for robbery.
Judge Penelope Belcher told her that despite this, there was a “chronic pattern of dishonesty offending”.
Despite jailing her, she said: “You are young and have a lot of your life ahead of you.
“It won’t be easy [to become clean from drugs]. This is the time to grapple with this.”