A MAN has been jailed for ten months after he was found in possession of an iPad just a few hours after a young missionary was robbed at gunpoint.

Dean Bowes had been charged with the robbery, in Norton, Stockton, and possessing an imitation firearm on March 5 this year.

But Teesside Crown Court heard there was insufficient evidence to pursue the two charges, which he denied.

Instead a plea of guilty to handling stolen goods was accepted by the Crown. The jail term means Bowes, who was described as having an “appalling” record, will be released immediately, having already served more than half of the sentence while remanded in custody.

Prosecutor David Crook said two women, both missionaries of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, were in Greylands Avenue, Norton, when an attacker tried to snatch the handbag of one.

There was a struggle in which she fell to the floor and a handgun was then produced with a threat to shoot the victim.

An iPad was taken and within two hours of the crime being reported it was then in the hands of Bowes, who sold it on for cash.

Mr Crook said the two complainants had failed to identify the defendant as their attacker, while a witness who he had planned to call upon for Bowes’ trial was now unavailable and described as being of questionable credibility by Judge Bourne-Arton.

Richard Herrmann, mitigating, said there was no evidence to suggest Bowes had any knowledge of where the iPad came from.

Bowes, 39, of Eastpoint Close, Stockton, had robberies on his record from the ages of 14 and 17 as well as a number of other offences.

But his offending was said to have slowed down in recent years. Nonetheless the judge said his previous was an aggravating factor.

Judge Bourne-Arton said the iPad was taken in a “nasty robbery”, but it was accepted Bowes may not have known the precise details of the offence.

Formal not guilty verdicts were returned on the charges of robbery and possessing an imitation firearm with intent to cause fear of violence.