Pair were 'prowling streets' looking for vulnerable victims

TWO men were “prowling the streets” late at night looking for vulnerable people to rob, a court has heard.

- JASON EVANS Court and crime reporter [e-mail]

When Christopher Palmer and Ceri Gibson identified a target they “befriended” him and, after seeing how much money he had in his pocket, led him away from CCTV cameras and robbed him.

Swansea Crown Court heard the pair had done something similar to another person some eight years earlier in almost exactly the same spot.

The court heard that the pair's latest robbery happened on January 27 this year after Palmer and Gibson met a man in Swansea city centre who had gone out for the night with a large amount of cash from his place of work.

On St Helen’s Road the defendants “befriended” the man - who by his own account was drunk - and the soon-to-be-victim bought them all drinks from a late-night shop.

Palmer and Gibson then led the man to a quiet street off the main road away from CCTV cameras and robbed him, taking their victim to the floor, threatening to stab him if he resisted, and searching his pockets before taking his cash, phone, and bank cards.

The court heard that the pair then made off, leaving their cashless and phoneless victim to walk to his father’s house where he raised the alarm.

After the robbery Palmer and Gibson were seen sitting on stairs in a block of flats in Griffith John Street in Dyfatty dividing up the cash they stolen which amounted to between £700 and £800.