A violent robber who stole a £20,000 watch from a sleeping pensioner has been jailed for five years because he’s a “serious risk to the public”.
Ashley Beckwith told his victim “I’m going to kill you” and held a screwdriver to the 68-year-old’s neck during the terrifying ordeal.
The 34-year-old then dragged the man through his own home, robbing him of luxury items including a Patek Phillipe watch worth around £20,000.
As Beckwith, who considered his victim “good to steal from” removed the luxury watch from his victim’s wrist, he told him it would feed his own family for a year.
The home intruder also stole expensive clothes, such as Canada Goose outdoor wear and a Mont Blanc pen, Aberdeen Sheriff Court was told.
As he returned to the dock for sentencing, the court was told that the HMP Glenochil prisoner’s offending stemmed from his need to fund a serious drug addiction.
The court previously heard how the owner of a home on Devonshire Road in Aberdeen awoke at 5am on June 16 last year.
He was struck on his head and discovered a violent stranger sitting on him.
Fiscal depute Dylan Middleton said Beckwith struck his victim’s head three times with a screwdriver.
Then he held it against the man’s throat and said: “I’m going to kill you. You’ve been sleeping with my ex-girlfriend”.
The fiscal added: “He grabbed at a necklace around the man’s neck and snapped it before smashing two nearby iPads”.
The pensioner was then ordered to take off his watch before he was dragged from his bedroom to the living room, where he was told to lie on the sofa and hand over his house keys.
Beckwith soon returned with the watch and, before leaving the room, told his victim: “That watch will feed my family for a year”.
Robber returned key through letterbox
The man believed that Beckwith had entered through a boarded-up vestibule window and left using a key, before posting it back through the letterbox.
Beckwith was seen leaving the property by bicycle and the homeowner, who was left with a 1cm laceration to the top of his head and superficial cuts to his mouth, contacted the police.
The total value of the goods stolen was at least £20,756, while the damage that Beckwith caused was estimated to cost £1,800.
Victim ‘was considered good to steal from’
Beckwith, who has previous robbery and firearms convictions, admitted one charge of assault and robbery and a second charge of robbing £500 from a till at the Marks & Spencer Cafe in Union Square, Aberdeen.
His defence agent previously said Beckwith’s victim was targeted because “he was considered good to steal from” in a bid to pay off escalating drug debts.
Solicitor Lynn Bentley added: “He is working very hard to become drug-free for when he is released and hopes to have sufficient support in place for then so that he is not tempted to relapse”.
She added that the fact her client is a danger to the public was “evident” from this offence.
“He accepts he needs to grow up, bring his drug addiction under control and make plans so that he can be supported through an extended sentence.
“He expresses empathy towards the complainer and a deep remorse for the way he conducted himself.”
‘You pose a serious risk of causing serious harm to the public’
Sheriff Graham Buchanan, after considering background reports, decided to deal with Beckwith at the very upper limit of his sentencing powers.
He told him: “This was plainly a very serious matter indeed and the offence must have been an extremely traumatising experience for your victim.
“Matters are made worse by your record or convictions, which is very poor. You do pose a serious risk of causing serious harm to the public generally.”
Beckwith, a prisoner of HMP Glenochil near Perth, was handed a six-year and six-month extended sentence.
It will include five years in jail, backdated to his remand date of December, and two years of supervision upon Beckwith’s release.
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