Homeless tree surgeon threatened to ‘bang’ someone out before Doncaster train station robbery

Jack Smith backed his victim into a corner at the station and patted his pockets down before taking a £70 i-phone and a gold-coloured watch worth £70, as well as £17 in cash, at 8pm, on May 20.

Smith warned the man not to tell anyone, prosecutor Robert Sandford said, and left with another man, but he was arrested in the town centre, at 2.30pm the next day.

The court also heard he and another man used a brick to smash their way through a glass door at Marks & Spencer, in Doncaster, at around 5am, on May 3.

They crawled inside and filled carrier bags with £3,042 of spirits, before making their escape, but Smith was arrested at noon on the same day.

Andrew Smith, mitigating, said Smith only had one, dissimilar, previous conviction, from 2005, when he was 13.

"He lived with his mum in the Selby area for a long time but fell out with her," he said. "He was homeless at the time and living in a hostel.

"He doesn't wish to blame anyone else. But in hostels there is often a more criminal influence available."

On Thursday, Judge Robert Moore QC jailed Smith, 27, of Wharf Road, Doncaster, for 22 months, after he admitted non-dwelling burglary, street robbery and failing to surrender to court, on June 4.