Pair who robbed Shrewsbury schoolboy are jailed
Two men who robbed a schoolboy of his change and tried to take his bike from him as he cycled home from school in Shrewsbury have been jailed.
The 16-year-old was left frightened and tearful after his ordeal when he was confronted by the two men on his way home in Castlefields in January.
Robbers John Murray, 32 of Grove Court, Wem, was sentenced to 14 months imprisonment and Darren Harris of Clee View Ludlow, to 18 months.
Both men had targeted the boy at random because they needed to find money for a drink, Shrewsbury Crown Court heard.
Harris admitted robbery and also a second attempted robbery of a cyclist on the Castle footbridge 10 minutes earlier.
Murray denied robbery but was found guilty after a trial.
Recorder Tracey Lloyd Nesling said the two men were both alcoholics who were desperate and determined to get money for alcohol..
They stopped the teenager and demanded he handed over his cash, she said.
Sentencing the men she said: "He gave you £2 which was all he had. You then pushed him and tried to grab his bike but he managed to keep hold of it.
"You left him scared and tearful."
Miss Lloyd Nesling said that just a few minutes earlier Harris had tried to obtain money from a cyclist on his way to work on the Castle Footbridge.
"You grabbed him but he managed to ride away," she said.
The court was told that the two men then went into a shop in Shrewsbury and stole four bottles of wine, an offence they had already been sentenced for.
Mr Benjamin Williams for Harris said the offences had been opportunist and committed while he had been drunk and had taken drugs.
"He has been in custody since April and those six months have given him the chance to think about the future. It has changed his outlook. He has four children and has been thinking very carefully about his responsibilites," Mr Williams said.
He said Harris had done a lot of studying whilst in prison and wanted to start a business.
Mr Delroy Henry for Murray said his client became involved in the attack because of his level of intoxication.
While waiting for trial he had been given a conditional discharge and since then had kept out of trouble, Mr Henry said and he urged the court to consider suspending any sentence.
He said Murray was now having regular contact with his son.
