A TEENAGE heroin addict has been locked up for three years for robbing a Bradford nurse at knifepoint.

Dawid Baran struck while Sandra Mitchell was sitting in her car outside St Luke's Hospital during her lunch break, Bradford Crown Court heard yesterday.

He demanded her phone and then her purse, fleeing with the make-up bag he grabbed off her instead.

Baran, 19, of Glover Court, West Bowling, Bradford, pleaded guilty to robbing Miss Mitchell in Park Lane, Bradford, on October 13.

He asked the court to take into consideration four more street robberies, an attempted robbery and a theft from the person, all committed in Bradford between June 26 and October 10.

Prosecutor Heather Gilmore said Miss Mitchell was sitting in her car with the window open when Baran leaned in, holding a seven inch bladed kitchen knife.

She tried to pretend she did not have her phone with her but he threatened to cut her if she did not hand it over.

He then demanded her purse and ran off clutching the similar looking bag of cosmetics she gave him instead.

Baran was caught on CCTV leaving the scene and arrested a few days later when he returned to the area, wearing the same clothes.

Miss Gilmore said Miss Mitchell was left shaking after she was robbed as she feared her throat would be cut.

Baran told the police it was not him on the CCTV footage and they could not be his fingerprints on the nurse's car.

His solicitor advocate, Tom Rushbrooke, said the teenager now realised how terrified Miss Mitchell would have been when she was threatened with a knife.

He was deeply ashamed and knew he would receive a substantial jail sentence.

Baran had been remanded in custody since his arrest and was receiving treatment for his drug addiction.

He had pleaded guilty at the first opportunity and voluntarily owned up to the other street robberies so he could make a new start when he was released from the young offender institution.

Judge Jonathan Rose told Baran: "Your life has been blighted by heroin addiction and it has driven you to the commission of these terrible offences."

The teenager had "snarled and shouted" at Miss Mitchell to force her to hand over her property.

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