'We're robbing you and taking your s***' - Sheffield park mugging drama

Joshua Yeardley's 32-year-old victim was walking through Hillsborough Park at 10pm, on September 18, when "something sharp" was pressed to his neck, prosecutor Michael Tooley told Sheffield Crown Court, on Friday.

Yeardley, who was on cocaine at the time, told the man: "We're robbing you and taking your s***.

"He said his friend had a gun and he would shoot him if he ran away," said Mr Tooley. "He said if there was nothing in his account he would do him in.

"Robberies at night are the kind of thing that makes law-abiding people frightened to go out after dark."

A second man searched the victim, and took his mobile phone, his wallet and a bag of tobacco.

A woman, who shone a mobile phone light into the victim's face just before he was accosted, was also said to be part of the gang.

The man was taken to a bank and £160 was withdrawn from his account, said Mr Tooley.

In a statement, he said: "I feel really shaken up by what has happened. I don't feel safe any more. I won't be walking through the park any more."

The court heard the offence was aggravated by previous convictions which showed "a predisposition to carry weapons," and he was on licence for a burglary committed in July 2018, at the time.

Christopher Moran, mitigating, said Yeardley had suffered "trauma as a younger person" which sparked "years of offending in his teenage years."

"He does express a degree of regret," he said. "On release he is thinking about some kind of job in construction and wants to have contact with his children."

Yeardley, aged 18, of Langsett Road, Hillsborough, admitted robbery, possession of an offensive weapon, and possession of cannabis, before a trial.

Judge Michael Slater told him the robbery was "extremely serious".

He handed Yeardley 27 months in a young offenders' institute.