Dangerous crack addict robbed 87-year-old Leeds man in his own home
Known thug admitted a catalogue of robberies
A crack-cocaine addict who threatened a frail pensioner into giving him cash has been handed a lengthy jail sentence after a judge found him to be a danger to society.
Ryan Woodhead, who was previously jailed for preying on an elderly woman, admitted three new robberies, an attempted robbery, and two counts of theft.
He was jailed at Leeds Crown Court this week for almost 12 years, with the judge telling him that he only cared about satisfying his hunger for drugs and a gambling problem.
The court heard that Woodhead, who is from the Leeds area, entered a Co-op store in Rotherham in December last year, showed a member of staff a piece of metal in his jacket, which looked like a knife.
He then picked up items and walked out without paying.
On January 3 this year he was in an slot-machine arcade in Rotherham at around 5.30am, when he grabbed a member of staff during an argument about his money being “swallowed” in a machine.
He demanded money from the man trying to grab his wallet and putting him in a headlock, prosecutor Vincent Blake-Barnard told the court.
Woodhead then targeted a McDonald’s worker, also in Rotherham, in early February demanding money from him after he finished work. He later frogmarched the terrified worker to a cash machine where he demanded he withdraw £250.
Then on April 19, he targeted the elderly man’s home in Beeston in Leeds. He knew the 87-year-old having previously shared a prison cell with the man’s son.
Having been let into his home, Woodhead then began demanding £70, threatening him by saying there were people in a car waiting outside.
The 35-year-old eventually snatched the wallet from the elderly man and left, using his bank card in a shop in Beeston a short time later.
Finally, on April 26, Woodhead stole an iPhone from a man in Leeds city centre who was too drunk to stand.
Woodhead, of no fixed address, appeared in court over a video link from HMP Doncaster, having been recalled.
He has 16 previous convictions for 36 offences, including 12 for fraud and eight for theft.
He was jailed in 2023 for burgling a dementia patient’s home, even demanding she make him a cup of tea as he ransacked her home.
Mitigating, Oliver Norman said Woodhead’s drug addiction was the “sole driver” behind his crimes.
He accepted that Woodhead was facing a long stint behind bars.
Judge Simon Phillips KC told Woodhead that any remorse he may have shown was “highly questionable” and told him that he “should feel ashamed”.
He added: “You only seem to care about yourself and your crack cocaine daily habit and gambling.”
He handed him an 83-month custodial sentence, with a 60-month extended licence period.
It means an overall sentence of 143 months, which comes to almost 11 years and 11 months.