Published: Wednesday, 6th August, 2008 12:00
Guest house robber left victim terrified
By Court Reporter
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David Campbell
AN ALLOA robber who locked a guest house owner in a cupboard and later threatened her with a knife has been jailed for eight years.
Career criminal David Campbell’s victim still suffers panic attacks every day following the robbery at The Warren on Warwick Road in Carlisle, and lives in fear of him.
Anita Martin left the city’s Crown Court in tears on Friday after being forced to re-live her ordeal at the hands of the scheming 43-year-old thief, who has a string of 132 convictions to his name.
Campbell, from Alloa, admitted robbery when he appeared in court in June, but Judge Barbara Forrester presided over a special hearing last week to determine the facts of the case.
Mrs Martin, who gave evidence from behind a screen, told the court that Campbell booked into her guest house premises on 24 January using a false name and telephone number.
He arrived at about 11am when other guests were out at work and her husband was away in London.
She set off after lunch to go to the hairdressers and a supermarket.
She returned to find Campbell at the front door asking her for help with his room key. She left her shopping at the back door and went upstairs to help him.
Campbell then pushed her into a cupboard and locked the door.
He went downstairs and took bank cards from her shoulder bag.
When he came back and opened the cupboard he had a steak knife with him. She did not know if it was one of hers.
Mrs Martin told the court, “He said ‘Give me the pin numbers or I’ll stab you.’
“He said he would cut my wrists and set fire to the guest house. I gave him the wrong pin numbers. I thought he would kill me.”
Mrs Martin, who is just 5ft tall, was later able to break out of the cupboard by smashing some plaster – cutting her hands in the process – and raise the alarm.
She told Judge Forrester, “I still suffer panic attacks every day when I’m on my own. I think he will come back and kill me. In town I’m looking around for him.”
She said Campbell took three rings which were of sentimental value and some cash after kicking through a door and entering her private living area.
Campbell, however, claimed he had never had a knife – just his room key. He denied pushing Mrs Martin into the cupboard.
But Judge Forrester said she rejected his version of events.
She said there were several aggravating factors in the case which was almost identical to a robbery that Campbell committed in Gretna just two years ago.
She said Campbell had carried a weapon and threatened Mrs Martin with it and had incarcerated her in her own home.
There was also an element of pre-planning to the robbery, with the use of a false name. He had also selected a vulnerable target – a woman who was home alone.
The court heard that during the robbery at a bed and breakfast in Gretna, Campbell had locked a woman in a downstairs toilet and barricaded her in.
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