A drug addict sex worker who was desperate cash brandished a bread knife at the throat of a terrified 74-year-old man who had previously paid her regularly for sexual services.
Charlotte Newton, who had a heroin habit, travelled to her victim's house intending to rob him because she thought he was an easy target.
The greedy and aggressive 25-year-old also thought the pensioner would be less likely to call the police for help because of their secret sexual arrangement.
Newton, who has lived a life of crime, put the knife “right under” the shocked pensioner’s chin and also robbed his 69-year-old friend after she went there with two masked men and another woman.
At Hull Crown Court, Newton denied two offences of robbery on October 19 but was convicted by a jury after a trial.
According to Hull Live, Judge John Thackray QC said that the pensioner was “relatively frail” and that he and his friend were having a pizza at his Hull home when the robberies took place after 8.45pm.
Newton, from Hull, was “probably surprised” to see the man’s friend there when she went round to target him.
She was with two men, who were wearing hats and face masks, and another woman. Newton was “complicit” in them being there but she “planned to rob” the pensioner.
The prosecution claimed that it was a “classic case” of a prostitute targeting her boyfriend for more money, said Judge Thackray.
Newton went to the kitchen and grabbed a bread knife before threatening both men and holding it quite close to their throats. “They were obviously terrified,” said Judge Thackray.
Newton and the three others left after money had been taken from both men - £80 from the pensioner and £30 from his friend - as well as a mobile phone. The robbery had badly affected the 74-year-old man and he found himself constantly looking over his shoulder.
“You were the one brandishing the knife,” said Judge Thackray. “I saw very clearly that there was not one jot of genuine remorse.
"Significant sentences must follow for those that target the most vulnerable in society. You have many convictions for dishonesty and some for violence.”
The pensioner said in a statement: “I am frightened to live in my home but I am not going to be moving. I have family here. This was my pension money to buy groceries and live on.
“I am worried they will come back and I will not be able to stop them getting in. I have been taken advantage of for my money. I was helping Charlotte out but she is not taking advantage of me to get money in this way.”
The other man said that he had been left scared to walk back to his home.
Newton claimed during her defence evidence that she knew the pensioner and that she had received a lot more than £2,000 from him in the past for "sex acts".
She claimed that she went to the man’s home and he let her in. The man’s friend was there. Newton claimed two masked men burst in and one of them picked up a knife. She later told police: “I had no involvement in this.”
Judge Thackray said: “The jury quite rightly saw through that.”
She admitted, however, that she had a heroin addiction at the time of the robberies and needed money for that.
Newton, previously of Perran Close, Hull, had convictions for assault causing actual bodily harm in November 2010 when she was a youth, assault in June 2011 when she was also a youth and in December 2013 as well as burglary and many for theft, including being jailed for eight weeks in December last year.
Stephen Robinson, mitigating after the verdicts, said that Newton had suffered a “wretched upbringing” and some of the assault offences happened while she was in care homes and was reacting to taunts from other residents or struggles with staff.
She suffered drug problems and had been in at least two abusive relationships.
Newton was jailed for seven years.
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