Man jailed for robbery in Warwickshire
A man's been jailed for attempting to take a woman's handbag by force in Warwickshire.
At around 7:45pm, the victim was walking through an alleyway near Church Way in Bedworth when 46-year-old David Burke, of no fixed abode, approached from behind and grabbed her handbag.
Burke shouted at her, “Give me your purse”.
The victim, whose handbag was strapped across her body to prevent it being taken, said that she didn’t have a purse on her.
“You’re *** lying, everyone has a purse,” Burke shouted, “you don’t want to *** annoy me.”
Burke, in his efforts to take the handbag, then pushed her into a bush.
The victim distracted Burke by saying that a relative was nearby, and then ran away to where the relative was waiting in a car.
After the victim identified Burke (who attempted to escape), the relative caught up with him and detained him until police arrived to perform an arrest.
On 12 September, Burke was sentenced at Warwick Crown Court to three years and nine months in prison.
PC Lewis said “Burke tried to take someone’s property by force, someone who must have appeared as an easy target.
“He threatened her, pushed her over, and paused only when it was made apparent there was someone else nearby to look out for her.
“We’d like to say a huge thank you to the efforts of her relative in resolving this incident.
“We are satisfied that Burke has got nearly four years to mull over the bad decisions that led to him staring at a cell wall.”