'Odd' street robber chased petrified man through Leeds threatening to stab and shoot him

Convicted sex offender Ryan Woods, who has the mental age of a 10-year-old, was described as behaving as “odd” and drunk when he approached the victim at around 7pm on June 29 last year and said: “Give me what you’ve got.”

He grabbed the man by the top of tracksuit bottoms and a tussle ensured as he began rummaging around in his pockets. He threatened to stab him but no knife was produced or seen.

The man then made a run for it, jumping over a fence and towards Town Street in the hope he could raise the alarm, but was pursued by Woods.

Prosecutor Carmel Pearson told Leeds Crown Court that Woods began gaining on the man who was frantically trying to call 999. He was shouting he would stab and shoot the man as he got closer to him. During the 999 call, Woods could be heard shouting in the background.

He then chased him around a car before saying he didn’t want to go to jail so relented and left the scene, but was picked up by the arriving police a short time later.

Appearing in court this morning via video link from HMP Nottingham, he admitted a charge of attempted robbery. The court heard that he had eight convictions from 14 offences, including multiple offences of indecent exposure. He was on a suspended sentence for exposure at the time of the robbery.

Mitigating, Philip Mahoney said the 31-year-old has learning disabilities. He said: "It’s a somewhat bizarre offence, clearly not thought through and almost outlandish by the behaviour described by the victim. Alcohol use and his learning disabilities go someway to explain how this took place. We are dealing with an unusual defendant in this case.”

He said that Woods, of no fixed address, had since gained a maths qualification while in prison and was proud of himself that he was making progress.

Judge Robin Mairs jailed him for 16 months, and activated an additional one month from his previous suspended sentence. He told him: “You do present a risk to the public based on your chaotic lifestyle.”