Teenager held up taxi driver armed with machete - but might not be locked up due to his birthdayhttp://www.gazettelive.co.uk/news/teesside-news/teenager-held-up-taxi-driver-13885561Dylan Frost, of Meadowview Road, Middlesbrough, pleaded guilty to the knifepoint robbery the day before he turned 18.
This meant he had to be sentenced as a 17-year-old youth months later. ](./images/smilies/eusa_wall.gif "Brick wall")
If he had admitted the offence one day later, he could have faced years behind bars under adult sentencing rules.
Now, a judge has been impressed with his efforts to make good since the robbery while “confined to barracks” at nights with an electronic tag.
Judge Deborah Sherwin gave him four months to keep his nose clean or be locked up.
“Carry on doing well and things will be all right, OK?” she told Frost at Teesside Crown Court on Friday.
Frost and a 15-year-old boy robbed the self-employed taxi driver while they were armed with a 15 to 20-inch machete and a 10-inch dagger.
They turned on him after directing him from Overdale Road to Garvin Close in Park End , Middlesbrough on May 9.
When he arrived at the dead end, the cabbie had a machete put to his neck and was told: “Give me all your money. I want it all.”
He feared he would be killed as he was confronted with the repeated threats, said prosecutor Martin Towers.
He grabbed the blade cutting his hand and got out of the taxi to see the second robber standing with the dagger.
He ran and raised the alarm, seeing the raiders searching his taxi before fleeing with £60 cash, a phone and a credit card machine.
He later said it “scared the hell out of him”.
Frost’s DNA was found in the taxi and he admitted the robbery in July.
His 15-year-old accomplice is serving an 18-month detention and training order, having admitted the robbery and another identical robbery at the same place and date.
Frost, of Meadowview Road, Middlesbrough, was also charged with another robbery, but denied it and was cleared as prosecutors dropped the case last month.
He had 10 other offences on his record, all from May.
He was in court the day before the robbery for theft, criminal damage and assaulting police.
Mr Towers added: “Had he been a day older, the adult sentencing guidelines would have applied.
“That would have been a starting point of five years after a trial for an adult of good character.”
Judge Sherwin said she had to follow guidelines for children and young people stressing defendants’ welfare and rehabilitation.
A pre-sentence report said Frost suffered serious head injuries in 2015, with reference made in court to “various problems arising from the accident”.
The judge said Frost had worked to put his life back on track in the months since his arrest.
She saw letters from Frost’s grandmother and his uncle who was employing him, both of whom were in court to support him.
Andrew Stranex, defending, said Frost had not breached a 12-hour curfew since July and was working with mental health services.
Judge Sherwin said she regarded him as young for his age, and took an “exceptional course”.
She said: “It’s something I’ve thought long and hard about.”
She deferred sentence until March 2, telling the 18-year-old: “You are very much at risk of custody today.
“The only thing really that saves you is that you were 17 at the time of this.
“Since this time you’ve spent a few months doing a lot of good stuff turning your life around and I’ve been impressed by how well you’ve been doing.
“So much so that I’m prepared to give you a chance.”
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