Dangerous armed Robber jailed for 7 years

Pauline Crook grappled with masked intruder Richard Fearn after he had forced Cash For Gold manager Amanda Ryan to hand over a cashbox containing more than £2,000.

Professional criminal Fearn, who had a scarf over his lower face, used a piece of silver tubing in a carrier bag to terrify Miss Ryan into handing over the cash, but as he tried to get out of the shop following the lunchtime raid in Bradford city centre last November he was grabbed by the courageous 61-year-old.

Prosecutor Claire Larton said the pensioner acted on instinct by grabbing Fearn’s coat and during the struggle she managed to pull a toggle off his hood.

Bradford Crown Court heard yesterday (MON) that the 33-year-old, of Ivy Bank, Wyke, eventually overpowered the elderly woman during the “pushing and shoving” and the pensioner was left with a cut to her finger and bruising to her upper arm.

A month after the raid on the pawnbrokers Fearn went on to carry out another terrifying armed robbery at the Beauty Revolution salon in Huddersfield Road, Wyke.

During that attack he used a toy gun to demand money from Caroline Turner who was in the premises with two female customers - one of whom was a blind woman.

Judge Jonathan Rose yesterday jailed Fearn for a total of seven years and two months and described him as a determined, professional criminal.

Judge Rose said Fearn had come across someone who was braver, more courageous and certainly more decent than him when he was grabbed by Pauline Crook.

Fearn’s barrister Stephen Wood said his client wanted to draw a line under his criminal history and emerge from his sentence to lead a law-abiding life.