Lyneham man escapes jail after demanding football from boys (From The Wiltshire Gazette and Herald)

Lyneham man escapes jail after demanding football from boys

11:16am Tuesday 14th February 2012 in News

A young man who was holding a screwdriver when he demanded three 15-year-old lads hand over a football has escaped jail.

Although John Cooper, of Pound Close, Lyneham, was armed with the 'weapon' a court was told he only had it in his hand because he needed it to start his car.

And Judge Euan Ambrose ruled the 20-year-old was showing off to his friends when he carried out the offence in Lyneham.

Cooper had been driving his car though the village on the evening of November 29 last year when he saw the three teenagers having a kick about in Preston Lane.

As he passed there was a bit of 'good humoured banter' between him and the boys, some of whom he knew, based on one of them having a woman’s jacket on.

Colin Meeke, prosecuting, said one of the group of youngsters said something 'pretty innocuous' back to Cooper causing him to pull up and park the car.

He got out and went across telling the lads 'Give me your P', which confused them but they assumed was referring to money.

As some of them knew him they thought he was messing about and carrying on the joke one of them said 'I haven't got much: 50p', but Cooper demanded 'Give me the football instead'.

The lads then became slightly alarmed as they saw he had a screwdriver in his hand but they refused to hand over the ball and 'told him what to do' and he returned to the car.

Cooper pleaded guilty to three counts of attempted robbery and possessing a bladed article.

Mike Jeary, defending, handed in a number of references and urged the court not to impose a jail term on his client.

He said his client came from a good family, had never been in trouble before and frequently assisted elderly neighbours in the village.

Passing sentence the judge said: "Things were pretty light hearted but you had in your hand a screwdriver.

"It was not there as you were intending to threaten any one. It was there because it was part of the way your car has to be started.

"It is not a stolen car, it is your car which is perfectly legitimate: a taxed and insured car in your name.

"You had a screwdriver, they became alarmed. You were making a demand for a football and you had a screwdriver in your hand.

"They weren’t that alarmed because they pretty much told you where to go. They didn’t hand over the football. You then returned to your friends in the car.

"It is agreed what you were doing was showing off to your friends in the car. It was stupid, ill thought out, amateurish and half baked.

"It has landed you up in front of a crown court. It is the first time you have got a criminal conviction.

"Obviously attempted robbery is consistent with a serious offence. I have to look at the facts; I have to look at what this really was.

"It was a silly bit of stupidity: it was a bit of mild bullying. It was in the words of the prosecutors 'half baked'."

He imposed a one-year community order and told him to do 150 hours of community service and observe a night time curfew for three months.