Teenager high on cocaine robbed woman of handbag at Hartlepool bus stop

The woman was heading in the dark for a bus home from work in Hartlepool centre when she was targeted by released prisoner Lewis Hunter, 18, and another druggie.

They were “laughing and joking around” as they crossed Hart Lane and engaged her in conversation.

But when they sat down beside her at the bus stop, she sensed that something bad was going to happen, Teesside Crown Court was told.

It was an attack that changed her life, said prosecutor Emma Atkinson.

Hunter grabbed her handbag by the strap, which was across her chest, and one of them yelled “get the bag”.

She was dragged to the ground and the strap snapped as they fled the scene.

A man in a nearby shop who heard her scream chased after the pair and he managed to recover the bag.

The police arrived on the scene and Hunter was identified from CCTV footage. He was arrested the next day.

Miss Atkinson said that the woman told in a victim impact statement that the robbery “had left a permanent scar on her life”

She was still scared that it would happen again and she left home only to go to work.

Hunter, who had five convictions for 25 offences, was recalled to custody to continue serving the second half of his last sentence.

He appeared for his latest sentence over a videolink from Durham Prison.

Richard Herrmann, mitigating, said the time Hunter had spent in custody since the February 18 robbery would not count against his new sentence.

He said that Hunter was immature and he had not been able to rehabilitate after his release.

He was the victim of a knifepoint burglary, had resorted to drugs and drink and was under the influence of cocaine when he committed the robbery.

Mr Herrmann said Hunter had been seeking to deal with his problems while on remand.

Reports said that he was a vulnerable young man.

Judge Timothy Stead told him that for an adult offender the sentence would have been up to six years.

Hunter, of Otterpool Close, Hartlepool, was sentenced to 32 months youth custody after he pleaded guilty to the robbery