Below are some of the more serious and dreadful robbery cases to have passed through Sheffield Crown Court recently where victims have included shop staff and elderly people in their own homes.
In some cases, offenders have been armed with a variety of weapons including an imitation firearm, a machete, knives and even a bamboo cane.
Elderly victims who have been targeted in their own homes have also been left traumatised.
But judges have brought the full weight of the law down on these offenders and imposed a range of custodial sentences.
5. Daniel Cummins
Pictured is knife-wielding robber Daniel Cummins who was given an 18-year prison sentence after he climbed into a woman’s home. Sheffield Crown Court heard in June how Cummins, aged 36 when sentenced, of St Helen’s Street, Elsecar, Barnsley, shinned-up a pipe on a house in Barnsley and went into the victim’s bedroom. The court heard he punched and slashed at his victim with a knife before stealing her mobile phone. Cummins, who has previous convictions, pleaded guilty to robbery and unlawful wounding but after a previous trial he was acquitted of sexual assault and trespassing with intent to commit a sexual assault. Judge Sarah Wright sentenced Cummins to 18-years of custody. Photo: South Yorkshire Police
6. Ashley Stocks
Pictured is Ashley Stocks, aged 31, of Greenwood Avenue, near Handsworth Hill, Sheffield, who, accrding to a Sheffield Crown Court hearng in August, tried to exchange two bottles of Budweiser before he attacked the shopkeeper at the Hollinsend Premier store, on Nodder Road, Woodthorpe, Sheffield. Stocks, who has previous convictions, pleaded guilty to the robbery from November 26, 2019. Stocks was sentenced by Judge Rachael Harrison to five-years and four-months of custody and banned from going near the Hollinsend store for ten years. Photo: South Yorkshire Police
7. Vanusa Vianna
Pictured is Vanusa Vianna, aged 39, of Cowley Gardens, Westfield, Sheffield, who pestered her elderly victim for money, according to a Sheffield Crown Court hearing in September, before visiting his home and forcing her way in and stealing his laptop, a mobile phone and cash. Vianna pleaded guilty to the robbery after the offence in June. Recorder Richard Woolfall recognised since Vianna has been remanded in custody she has freed herself of drugs and alcohol but he sentenced her to four years and six-months of custody. Photo: South Yorkshire Police
8. Lee Whitehouse
Pictured is Lee Whitehouse, aged 22, of Broughton Avenue, Bentley, Doncaster, who was jailed at Sheffield Crown Court for two years after he admitted robbing a woman at a cash machine on May 18 and making off from a petrol station without paying on May 16. Whitehouse snatched the cash from a woman at an Asda store in Doncaster as her three children stood nearby, according to the court. Whitehouse, who has previous convictions, pleaded guilty to the robbery and also admitted making off without paying for fuel at a petrol station at Morrisons, on York Road, Doncaster. He was sentenced in August. Photo: South Yorkshire Police