Rotherham thugs who robbed vulnerable victim of their MOTHER'S ASHES jailed

Shamas Star, of St John’s Green, and Jay Cummings, of Roseberry Street, carried out a campaign of assaults, robberies and vile harrassment against their victim who they reportedly befriended in the months leading up to the string of incidents.

Sheffield Crown Court heard yesterday (August 27) how attended the home of their target in the Moorgate are in January last year, where they demanded money from them, beat them and took their TV and phone.

However, they then returned the following evening with another man, Tyrese Cummings-Blair, in tow.

It was then that the Star again beat the victim and brandished a knife at them, before threatening to have them shot.

The victim managed to escape the property – only for the three men to steal their medication and, sickeningly, their mother’s ashes.

The Star has contacted South Yorkshire Police to ask if these precious items were ever returned to the victim.

Sheffield Crown Court also heard how in the following year after the robbery, and after criminal proceedings had begun following Star’s arrest, the victim received phone calls from an unknown man stating to have spoken to Star and asking the victim not to attend court in exchange for either money or the stolen items being replaced.

The same man threatened the victim in subsequent calls with violence if the case was not dropped.

But police intelligence work soon uncovered that the unknown was in fact Star, who was calling the victim from prison with an illegally obtained sim card.

Further investigative work on the number revealed Star had also been in breach of a restraining order in relation to a previous victim of domestic abuse by him by pressuring them to also contact the victim on his behalf and try and get the victim to drop the case.

Star, 30, was jailed for nearly eight years – 94 months – in total. He pleaded guilty to robbery, affray, perverting the course of justice, breach of a restraining order and having an illegal item in prison.

Cummings, aged 46, pleaded guilty to robbery and affray and received 45 months in total.

Cummings-Blair, aged 21, at the time of Roseberry Street in Rotherham, also pleaded guilty to affray and received a 15-month jail term suspended for 18 months.

Joanne Dixon, an Investigations Officer in CID who oversaw the case, said: “These men targeted a vulnerable person and attacked them in their own home, causing them much distress and taking some very personal items.

“They then subjected the victim, and the second victim of the previous domestic abuse offences, to a long and trying 18 months, before finally pleading guilty to the offences on the day of the trial.

“They have now been subjected to justice, and we implore all victims of such offences to come forward to us so we can try our utmost to help you shake off the shackles of such controlling influences which may be affecting your lives.”

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