Ipswich: ‘Cowardly’ robber given five years after mugging 89-year-old man with a Zimmer frame as he walked away from Sainsbury’s
Colton Bridgeman - Credit: Archant
A “cowardly” robber who mugged an 89-year-old man and a 78-year-old woman in attacks within days of each other in Ipswich town centre will be spending Christmas behind bars after a judge locked him up for five years.
Twenty-year-old Colton Bridgeman ran up behind the 89-year-old as he was walking with the aid of a frame along Foundation Street after a shopping trip to Sainsbury’s and went through his pockets, Ipswich Crown Court heard.
He took out items and threw them to the ground and ran off with £10-£20 cash after pushing his shocked victim against a wall, said Marcus Croskell, prosecuting.
“He was so flabbergasted he sat down. He was very upset,” said Mr Croskell. He said Bridgeman was later picked out on a video identification parade by a woman in an electric wheelchair who went to the man’s aid and challenged Bridgeman.
Two days later on August 12 a 78-year-old woman, who had also been shopping at Sainsbury’s, was in Bond Street when Bridgeman ran up behind her and snatched her purse containing £6 cash from her handbag.
“She was shocked and shouted after him,” said Mr Croskell.
He said that as the woman tried to pull her handbag away from her attacker she fell against a door.
Most Read
- 1 Most desirable places to live in Ipswich according to estate agents
- 2 Ipswich man charged with string of sexual offences
- 3 Jailed in Suffolk: The criminals locked up so far in 2022
- 4 Ipswich Music Day 2022: All you need to know
- 5 Woman 'froze' after seeing masked men with machetes in Ipswich
- 6 Missing 12-year-old girl from Ipswich found safe
- 7 Plans for 440 homes and visitor centre in Ipswich Garden Suburb submitted
- 8 OPINION: Free sporting activities for children return to Ipswich this summer
- 9 Ipswich singer to perform UK festival tour after scoring club hit
- 10 Could you offer one of these rescue animals their forever home in Suffolk?
Bridgeman, of Weavers Court, Harwich, admitted two offences of robbery and asked for seven offences, including theft and burglary, to be considered.
Sentencing him to five years detention at a young offenders’ institution Recorder Mr Stephen Solley QC told Bridgeman, who was in tears as he was taken away to begin his sentence, the robberies were “crimes of great cowardice”.
He said he was “staggered” that anyone could commit such crimes against two elderly people.
Paul Donegan, for Bridgeman, said his client had a difficult time as a teenager but this did not excuse his offending.
He said Bridgeman had used Class A drugs and had committed offences to fund his drug habit. However, he was now motivated to change his ways.
Mr Donegan described the robberies as “opportunistic”.
