Two drug users who waylaid a newspaper deliverer and robbed him of £300 while he was on an early morning round, both received four-year prison sentences.

The jailing of the pair was among cases dealt with at Durham Crown Court this week.

Demi Foster, 30, of The Green, Witton Park, and 21-year-old Ryan Patton, of Kilburn Street, Shildon, who was in possession of a hammer, were with an unknown accomplice when they got into the victim’s car, in Shildon, shortly after 4am on August 18.

They forced him to drive around to addresses where they thought they may acquire more drugs, before pushing him onto the rear of the vehicle and pinning him back by forcing a front seat backwards.

Foster leaned over the front seat and punched the victim, who was forced to hand over his mobile phone and driven, by her, to an atm where he was made to withdraw £300 from his wife’s bank account.

Read more: Man kidnapped and robbed while delivering newspapers in Shildon

The ordeal ended when he was given back his car keys and phone, and he drove to a store car park to report the incident.

Foster was linked to the crime by a fingerprint found in the car, while Patton was recognised on cctv.

Both admitted kidnap and robbery, while Foster also admitted driving without insurance and a licence, for which she received a 12-month disqualification, starting on her release from prison.

Patton, who spat at a police officer, claiming to have Hepatitis B, when arrested, also admitted assaulting an emergency worker, for which he received an added three-months on his sentence.

A man found in possession of three air rifles, two classed as “especially dangerous”, when subject to lifelong prohibition from possessing firearms, received the mandatory five-year prison sentence at the court, on Monday (October 24).

The rifles, one less than 60cm in length, all with detachable silencers and one loaded with air pellets, were found when police were called to the home of Paul Tomlinson, in The Fallows, in Cockfield, near Bishop Auckland, for unconnected reasons, on July 19.

Officers also found 403g of cannabis, valued at £3,920.

Tomlinson’s lifelong prohibition came into force following a conviction for being concerned in the supply of heroin, at Teesside Crown Court, in 2001.

The 48-year-old defendant admitted seven counts of possessing a firearm, ammunition of sound moderator, when prohibited, plus two charges each of possessing a firearm without a certificate and possessing a prohibited firearm.

Read more: Bishop Auckland man jailed after cops find air rifles and silencers

He also admitted possessing a class B drug with intent to supply, on the basis it was only to pass on to his girlfriend.

A West Auckland man who beat his partner with a chair leg and strangled her to the point where she passed out, received a 21-month prison sentence, on Tuesday.

The court heard police were alerted by a passer-by who saw Kenneth Chisholm dragging the woman into her Spennymoor home, on the morning of August 11.

Upon arrest, Chisholm struggled with the officers and kicked out at two as they placed him in a police van.

The 35-year-old defendant, of Simpson Road, admitted assault causing actual harm and two counts of assaulting an emergency worker.

A former jockey who committed bank fraud to help to pay for an addiction to strong tramadol painkillers was sentenced to 16 months of imprisonment, also on Tuesday.

Peter Breward, of Park Avenue, Blackhall Colliery, successfully opened a Halifax account in another man’s name, using an empty property to which he had access as a mail address.

The court heard he then “racked up” £10,097 in credit in a fortnight in February.

He used the card to buy store vouchers which he sold on for cash.

The 44-year-old defendant, who admitted fraud, was said to have 21 similar convictions on his record.

A young disqualified driver who caused a serious injury accident while speeding to avoid police in a daytime chase was given a 32-month prison sentence at the court, on Thursday.

Rickylee Smith, whose 15 previous convictions are mostly for driving offences, was in a BMW which collided with an oncoming Audi A3 after taking a blind bend at speed, near Shildon, in mid-afternoon on August 1.

The female motorist in the badly damaged Audi feared she was paralysed and suffered a broken ankle, spending a week in hospital where two screws were fitted in an operation to aid the healing process, which is still ongoing.

Another motorist suffered lesser injuries after his Citroen Berlingo van was forced off the road and came to rest in a field.

Smith ignored the two injured motorists and fled the scene, but a DNA match from an inflated air bag in the BMW, led to his arrest four weeks later.

The defendant, who turned 24 earlier this month, of Hereford Street, Leeholme, near Bishop Auckland, admitted causing serious injury by dangerous driving, plus driving while disqualified and without insurance.

The court heard he served an eight-month young offenders’ institution sentence for dangerous driving in 2018 and is in breach of a community order for further driving offences from last year, which led to him being banned from the roads until October 25, 2024.

On his release, at the mid-point of the 32-month sentence, he will be banned from driving for four years and 11 months.

Read next:

                Spennymoor violence victim left fearful of partner after 'prolonged' incident

                County Durham ex-jockey resorted to fraud to fund addiction to painkillers

                Disqualified County Durham BMW driver crashes during police chase

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