Motorist's finger broken in bag snatch

A MOTORIST suffered a badly broken finger after she tried to hold on her to handbag when a robber snatched it from her car as she waited at traffic lights.

The victim was desperate to keep the bag because it contained the perfume used by her mother who had recently died, Catherine Duffy, prosecuting, told Leeds Crown Court yesterday.

When Luke Oliver Watson opened the passenger door and grabbed the bag as she was stopped at lights in Burmantofts Street, Leeds, she told him "don't take my bag it's got my mum's stuff in it" but he pulled it from her grip and ran off.

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Fortunately, he dropped it a short distance away and it was recovered in a torn condition. The driver was treated in hospital where her little finger was found to be fractured in three places.

The court heard he was already on bail for a similar offence. The previous month, on November 7, he opened the passenger door of another car stopped at lights in Beckett Street, Leeds, and grabbed a handbag.

That driver had her three-year- old daughter in a car seat in the back and was left shocked and scared by the incident.

Watson, 20, of Naseby Gardens, Mabgate, Leeds, admitted theft on the first occasion and robbery on the second.

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Sentencing him to two years, three months in a young offender institution, Judge Scott Wolstenholme said they were "nasty" offences. He accepted Watson had not intended to cause the second motorist the injured finger "but that is the consequence of your ruthlessness".

Alun Jones, for Watson, said the offences were committed to fund a cocaine and cannabis habit.

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