A jealous stripper and her boyfriend have been jailed after robbing a fellow exotic dancer of roughly £8,000 in tips she earned from a rich punter.
Gemma Lyons, 29, and Nicholas Proctor, 36, decided to cash in on Mihaela Sasarman's takings and she was attacked outside Maidenhead's Honeypot strip club as she smoked a cigarette.
The pair were convicted of one count of robbery and cried as they were sentenced, with Lyons given two years behind bars and Proctor five during a hearing today at Reading Crown Court.
Ms Sasarman - whose stage name is Alesha - had been generously tipped by the client on January 30 last year.
Lyons, from Hounslow, West London, became envious because she'd attempted to entertain the same man but was only treated to a few free drinks, the court heard.
She and Proctor, from Farnborough, then stalked their victim from his work van before striking in the early hours.
Ms Sasarman was unable to wrestle Proctor off her and he punched her in the head before escaping with her money during the ambush caught on CCTV.
The dancer was left with a bruised eye and a head wound in the vicious 3am attack.
The Sun reports Judge John Bate-Williams told the weeping thieves: "You two, in reality, in a graveyard quiet town centre, were the only real candidates.”
He added Proctor was a “well-built coward", with his “violent determination” to commit the offence “quite chilling”.
Ms Sasarman has since left the UK for home country Romania because she felt unsafe.
She only returned for the trial and in a victim impact statement said she still thought about the violent ambush at night.
She said: "To find out a coworker was responsible shook me. I thought we would look out for each other and not prey on each other."
Defending lawyers pointed to Lyons' vulnerable mental health at the time of the theft - and Proctor's regret about his role in the crime.
