Police release picture of a Doncaster robber who snatched money from a woman at cash machine

A robber has been put behind bars after he snatched money from a woman at a cash machine in front of her children.
Watch more of our videos on Shots! 
and live on Freeview channel 276
Visit Shots! now

Lee Whitehouse, aged 32, of Broughton Avenue, Bentley, Doncaster, snatched the cash from a woman at an Asda store in Doncaster as her three children stood nearby, according to a Sheffield Crown Court hearing.

Andrew Smith, prosecuting, told the hearing today, August 3, how the woman had left her three children near the trolley bay and had gone to the nearby cash machine when the defendant barged into her and snatched money from her hand.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

He said: “The defendant barged into her and said, ‘you are not having that’, and snatched the money forcibly from her hand.”

Pictured is Lee Whitehouse, aged 22, of Broughton Avenue, Doncaster, who was jailed at Sheffield Crown Court for two years after he admitted robbing a woman at a cash machine and making off from a petrol station without paying.Pictured is Lee Whitehouse, aged 22, of Broughton Avenue, Doncaster, who was jailed at Sheffield Crown Court for two years after he admitted robbing a woman at a cash machine and making off from a petrol station without paying.
Pictured is Lee Whitehouse, aged 22, of Broughton Avenue, Doncaster, who was jailed at Sheffield Crown Court for two years after he admitted robbing a woman at a cash machine and making off from a petrol station without paying.

Whitehouse fled in a VW Passatt being driven by an unidentified accomplice after the robbery about 2.45pm, on May 18.

The defendant, who has previous convictions, pleaded guilty to robbery and also admitted making off without paying for fuel at a petrol station on May 16 at Morrisons, on York Road, Doncaster.

Judge Jeremy Richardson QC acknowledged Whitehouse has alcohol and drug problems and has mental health problems and depression which he has been addressing while remanded in custody.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

However, Judge Richardson pointed out that Whitehouse had only just been released from prison for a previous offence when he committed these latest two crimes.

He told Whitehouse: “The most serious aspect – apart from the robbery being serious in itself – was the fact the children were watching their mother being robbed.”

Judge Richardson sentenced Whitehouse to two years of custody.