A TEENAGER who terrified a female taxi driver and three other victims he tried to rob began his "night of mayhem" in Tamworth.
The catalogue of crime from Liam Adcock included attacking a woman on her own driveway in a bid to get her car.
The defendant fled when Sharon Tuner managed to open her door and let loose her Alsatian dog.
In other incidents, Adcock put a Gurkha-type knife to the throat of cabbie Tina Rose and used the same weapon to threaten a man in Tamworth because he couldn't give him a light.
Adcock, aged 17, of Ferndale, Burntwood, was sent to youth custody for four years last Thursday (March 29) after admitting three charges of attempted robbery, one of making off without payment and one of possessing a blade.
Judge Paul Glenn told him: "Your behaviour was outrageous. You targeted innocent and lone victims at night, including two females. If you were an adult, the sentence would be higher."
Mr Nick Burn, prosecuting, said the string of crimes all happened during the space of one night, November 18-19.
It started in Crossfell, Tamworth with Adcock pointing the knife at Mr Michael Saggars after asking him for a light. The defendant and some friends, including co-accused Jordan Rushton, got in to a taxi to go to Lichfield.
Once there, Adcock threatened the driver with the knife and he and Rushton made off without paying.
At around 10.15pm, Sharon Turner had just got home when Adcock approached her shouting "give me your keys".
She retreated towards the door, screaming for help and Adcock punched her, the blow landing on her protecting forearm.
She managed to get to the door, which fortunately for her was not locked.
A short time later, at the cashpoint outside Morrisons supermarket, Nathan Coates had withdrawn some cash when Adcock came up and punched him in the eye.
Further punches and kicks followed, but the victim would not let go of his money and Adcock again was thwarted.
The final victim was bakery worker Adam Constance, walking home along Lombard Street around 5.30am, carrying some bottles of beer.
Adcock attacked him, accusing him of stealing his beer, and making a grab for the bottles. "I slapped his hand down from the beer," Mr Constance later told police.
Officers arrested Adcock in the vicinity.
Mr Nick Smith, defending, said: "These offences were committed over a period of eight hours, one mad spurt on a night of mayhem. My client himself has been truly shocked by what he did."
Rushton, aged 18, of Dimbles Lane, Lichfield, who admitted a charge of making off without payment, was given a 12-month community order with 80 hours' unpaid community work. He was ordered to pay £280 costs and £20 compensation to the taxi driver.
http://www.thisistamworth.co.uk/Teen-s- ... story.html
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