Masked thief targeted teen girls on way to Skegness outside Nottingham railway station

A thief targeted two sets of victims - including two teenage girls - early on the same morning outside Nottingham railway station. Nottingham Crown Court heard how Daniel Drazewski threatened to “cut the head off” one woman unless she handed over her mobile phone before stealing cash from the purses of two young girls who were about to catch a train to Skegness for the day.

In a victim impact statement, the first woman told how she “thought she was going to die" thinking the 22-year-old, also known as Daniel Drazeska, might have a knife on him. And one of the teens told how she now feels “anxious and uneasy walking around Nottingham on my own”.

Jailing Drazewski for 15 months, Recorder Simon King said: “You were on a suspended sentence for possession of a knife and no doubt on that occasion you were warned that if you offended again over the next 12 months that could be activated?

"Then, just six weeks later, you committed these offences. You have left me no alternative as you have demonstrated that when given a chance, you just ignored it.”

Sam Jones, prosecuting, said both of the incidents took place in Station Street by the side entrance to the railway station on the morning of August 5, this year. He said the first victim was approached by the defendant who had his face covered with a balacalvas and was on a bike.

The prosecutor said: “He lunged for her and told her he wanted her phone before saying ‘I will cut your head off’ and calling her ‘a slag’ and ‘a bitch'.” The second victim were two 15-year-old girls who were catching a train to Skegness and who were approached by the defendant, again on a bike.

“He took their bags and removed £70 from them giving them back £10 for food and told them ‘if anyone finds out what happened, I will find you and you will be done’. He left and one of the girls phoned her brother who was near the station and gave a description and reported it to the police.

“The defendant was arrested following a short foot chase in Station Street.” Drazewski, of no fixed address, was originally charged with robbery but pleaded guilty to lesser charges of theft and has a robbery offence on his record from when he was a juvenile.

At the time he was just weeks into a suspended sentence order handed to him for possession of a knife. In a victim impact statement, the first woman he targeted said: "At the time I felt I was going to die becasue I felt he could have had a knife on him."

And in her statement, one of the teenage girls said: "It was very early in the morning, it was daylight and now I feel angry that someone could target me for no reason." Steven Gosnell, mitigating, said his client has worked hard in the five months he has been remanded into custody.

He said: "The main mitigation here is his plea of guilty."