A man has been told a prison sentence is inevitable after he tried to rob a teenager and another man of cash in Carlisle just days after he was released from custody.
Barrie Lee, 36, appeared at the city’s crown court this morning.
Lee admitted attempting to rob the two males — one aged 17 — of cash on March 29 last year. This follows an incident at Bank Street in the city centre at 6.10pm.
In an address to the judge, Lee’s barrister Brian Russell said the two attempted robberies had occurred just 12 days after he had been released from custody on licence.
Lee was handed a 48-month sentence in March, 2019, for robbing a 16-year-old Workington college student, demanding: “Give me your money or I will stab you in the neck.” The petrified victim had handed over £15 during an incident which took place less than two,weeks after he had tried to rob a Greggs shop assistant in Whitehaven.
Mr Russell told today’s hearing he didn’t understand why it had taken so long for the Carlisle case to reach the crown court. A prosecutor said he will investigate.
However, Mr Russell said: “My lay client instructs me in that time he has made significant progress with his own problems whilst in custody.
“He also instructs me that were it not for this matter he would have been due to,have a parole hearing in September. He instructs me probation were very positive about that.”
Recorder Ian Unsworth acceded to Mr Russell’s request for the preparation of a probation service pre-sentence report before Lee, previously of Workington, is punished for the Carlisle crimes.
The case was adjourned and Lee is due to be sentenced at the crown court on October 13.
Judge Unsworth told the defendant not draw any inferences from the fact a report was being ordered. “This is a serious matter,” said the judge, who said a jail term was “inevitable”. “But it is important that the court on the next occasion has all the available information before it.”
