A thief who snatched a woman’s bag in Carlisle has been given an immediate six-month prison sentence.
Cavan Bryan, 21, approached his victim from behind as she walked close to the taxi rank on Court Square Brow, opposite the city’s railway station, just after 1pm on November 16.
Carlisle Crown Court heard how Bryan ran in between her and another person and grabbed the clutch bag she was carrying before running off in the direction of West Walls.
Three male good Samaritans, who saw the crime, gave chase in a car and found Bryan a short distance away.
Police arrived and arrested the thief, who was in possession of the victim’s bank card.
Bryan denied a robbery charge when he appeared at court. The prosecution accepted his guilty plea to the lesser charge of theft, based on the low level of force he had used.
Yet statements provided by the victim outlined the effect of his crime.
“I no longer want to socialise. The incident replays in my mind,” said the woman, who said she was previously very sociable.
Prosecutor Tim Evans also told the court: “She talks about having anxiety and nightmares but still says the incident, to her, is very real.
“She wonders why she was targeted. She feels stupid and blames herself even though she knows it is not her fault.”
She had lost faith in the local community, and had her £500 mobile phone stolen, along with cash.
In a direct address to sentencing judge Nicholas Barker, Bryan — previously of Barrow and latterly of Linton Street, Carlisle — said: “I apologise. You won’t see me in court again. I’m sorry.”
Judge Barker imposed an immediate six-month jail term.
“Although charged as a theft, it shouldn’t be seen in any way to undermine the seriousness of the offending,” the judge told Bryan. “It was a real shock to the woman to be, in essence, assaulted in this way; for her to be the subject of your theft.
“Yes, the bag was worth up to £500 with the phone inside. Lots of inconvenience flows from that. But behaviour like this causes people to become fearful, hyper-sensitive and distressed; and to become generally very nervous.”
The court heard Bryan had, as a result of the theft, been recalled to prison to serve the balance of a sentence previously imposed for child sex offences.
