A law graduate who was so drunk that he could not remember trying to rob a local bus driver has been jailed for two years.
Scott Roberts, a regular passenger on the Number 15 Arriva Wales bus service from Llysfaen to Conwy, threatened the driver Steven Thomas with a weapon.
Roberts told the driver: “I want all your money otherwise I will do you with this,” Mold Crown Court heard.
Mr Thomas told him he only had nine pounds in change and asked Roberts if he thought it was worth going to prison for that amount?
He 'held up' driver with weapon
But Roberts said the driver had more money in his pocket: “I will do you with this, your job is not worth it.”
The driver, fearing for his safety got up, shouted and pressed the alarm, at the next stop
Roberts simply went to get his shopping bag, got off the bus and walked away.
The 36-year-old, who lived in a flat at Mostyn Avenue Craig y Don, Llandudno, admitted attempted robbery following the terrifying incident on June 25 last year and was jailed for two years.
Mr Recorder Richard Williams said that the defendant had consumed a large amount of alcohol mixed with his medication and Mr Thomas generously allowed him onto the bus.
“You told him where you wanted to go and Mr Thomas was willing to take you there. You did not get off where you said you were going to get off and asked him to continue with the journey which he did.”
Roberts was 'so drunk he could not remember'
But as he was driving, Roberts effectively “held him up” by demanding money and producing some sort of weapon, the judge said.
It was only when the driver hit the alarm that other passengers on board realised what was going on.
Prosecuting barrister Owen Edwards said that the driver saw a weapon, a piece of metal the shape of a pen with two sharp spikes sticking out of it - it was not known what it was.
When the demand for cash was made, the driver remained calm, stopped at the next bus stop, and thought that the defendant would simply stop when others got on the bus.
But when he made a second threat, he realised he was serious.
Incident had lasting effect on driver
CCTV at the bus stops and on the bus showing the defendant getting on and off but the robbery bid was not recorded because of the angle of the camera.
Interviewed, he said that he was so drunk he could not remember what he had done although it was not the sort of thing he would have said, he explained.
In a victim impact statement, Mr Thomas said he had driven for Arriva Wales for 10 years, that nothing like that had ever happened before, and it had a lasting effect upon him.
Jonathan Austin, defending, said that Roberts was under the care of his GP and community mental health nurse who was on significant medication for depression and anxiety, which he had mixed with alcohol.
He was very sorry for what had happened when he was not fully in control of his faculties after a drinking session that afternoon.
“It may have been seen as something of a joke in the drunken recesses of his mind but the reality is that the bus driver saw and heard what he did and set the alarm going,” Mr Austin said.
“He is someone who has clearly gone off the rails,” he added.
see-http://www.dailypost.co.uk/news/north-wales-news/law-graduate-jailed-drunken-robbery-10734010
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