Jail terms slashed for thugs who took £5 from ‘vulnerable’ victim

London’s Appeal Court heard Ashley John Buckley and Gary Shaun Adams (both 25) terrorised their victim after bursting into the sheltered housing where he lived in Doncaster Road, Rotherham.

They grabbed hold of their victim and hauled him from his bed, also punching him in the face, the court was told and demanded what little cash their victim had, finally fleeing with just £5 taken from his bedside table.

Around five weeks later, in January last year, Buckley staged a solo robbery in which he snatched £100 from a corner shop after brandishing a baseball bat at staff.

The pair were locked up at Sheffield Crown Court in July last year after Adams admitted one robbery and Buckley pleaded guilty to two.

Adams, of Symonds Avenue, Rotherham, was ordered to serve five years and four months and Buckley, of Elm Green Lane, Doncaster, received a total sentence of seven years and nine months.

The pair challenged their punishments on Friday, claiming they were far too harsh with their lawyers pointing out that neither of them knew their victim was vulnerable when they stormed into his flat.

They had not “targeted” him since neither of them realised he was living in sheltered housing, they argued.

Lord Justice Elias, sitting with Mr Justice Holroyde and Sir John Griffith-Williams, noted both men's poor criminal records but noted that “the level of harm was minor”, allowing the appeals and cutting each man's sentence by a year.

Buckley’s total term was reduced to six years and nine months and Adams to four years and four months.