THIS week’s Crime Files is based on two men who robbed a lone woman in a Worcester shop in 2018. Damian Cowtan, 33, of no fixed abode and Ashley Evans, 26, of Holly Mount Road, Tolladine, Worcester admitted the robbery at St Paul’s News, St Paul’s Street, Worcester in April 2018. Michael Conry, prosecuting, said the defendants came into the shop with their hoods up on April 24. Mrs Patel, running the shop, recognised Cowtan, holding a black bin liner and demanding cigarettes. He came behind the counter while Evans stood by the door, preventing customers from entering the shop. He said: “She was in fear he would hurt her. She searched for the panic button but because of her panicked state she was unable to locate it.”
AN ASTONISHINGLY selfish daughter has escaped a prison sentence after she stole £18,000 from her blind mother. Nicola Jane James, 52, stole the money from the 87-year-old s ISA savings account after getting into debt through gambling, Hereford Crown Court heard on Friday. James, of Pixley Walk in Hereford, was told by the judge that she acted in an astonishingly selfish and predatory way as he sentenced her to 12 months in prison, suspended for two years. The court was told by prosecution barrister Abigail Nixon the sum had been taken from the victim s bank account between between January 1, 2017 and the end of December 2019, but she had shown distress that her daughter could go to prison.
HERE are five Worcestershire fraudsters who conned innocent people out of thousands of pounds - but avoided jail.
A ‘SELFISH’ woman was disowned by the family she ‘tore apart’ after she carried out credit card frauds against her own mum and daughter. Debt-ridden and shunned, Zoe Hayes sobbed in the dock as she was given a suspended jail senten
Zoe Hayes A ‘SELFISH’ woman was disowned by the family she ‘tore apart’ after she carried out credit card frauds against her own mum and daughter. Debt-ridden and shunned, Zoe Hayes sobbed in the dock as she was given a suspended jail sentence at Worcester Crown Court on October 16 last year.
A DRUG dealer who plied his evil trade in Worcester while armed with a knife is still at large after absconding from an open prison. Rory Allen left the open prison on Saturday, December 5 with two other prisoners, one a convicted killer, and has spent Christmas at large. Only one has been recaptured and the other two remain at large say Derbyshire Police who have reissued an appeal to find him. The 33-year-old was convicted of being concerned in the supply of cocaine and heroin at Worcester Crown Court in 2018 as reported in the Worcester News at the time. Allen is black, 6ft 2ins tall and has brown eyes, black hair, a black moustache and is of thin build.