A teenage girl and her friend have both been comme

A teenage girl and her friend have both been commended by
a crown court judge for their help in catching a mugger.

Miss Claire Martin, 17, and Miss Victoria Addinall, 20, both
from Blackheath were on their way out for the evening when they
witnessed the attack.

And without a moment’s hesitation they moved into action,
Inner London Crown Court was told.

The young women noted down the registration number of the
car in which mugger Lee Sinclair, 23, escaped – then raced to
the nearby police station to get help.

Thanks to their quickthinking and public spiritedness
Sinclair was caught just minutes after the attack.

The necklace
he ripped from the neck of Miss Sally White, 30, was found under
his car seat.

The court had heard how Sinclair had left his woman
companion on the excuse of needing to go to the toilet.

But a few
moments later he ran up behind Miss White, a recruitment officer
walking along Lee Road, Blackheath, with a girl friend and grabbed
a gold chain from her neck.

Miss White, who lived locally, struggled to hold on to
her necklace, but fell to the pavement and and was forced to let
go.

She suffered a grazed elbow and wrenched shoulder in the
attack and both she and her friend were left in a ‘stunned state.

‘
Sinclair, who has a number of previous convictions for
dishonesty, but none for violence, was jailed for 12 months.

Drug addiction was blamed as the cause of his offending.

Rejecting a recommendation that Sinclair be placed on
probation, with a condition that he gets help his for drug
dependency, Judge Colin Smith QC said:
‘A robbery like this in the street is a terribly traumatic
and nasty experience for the victim.

You are still only 23 and
have had a lot of long sentences already.

‘Strangely enough I take that into account as something of
a mitigating factor here.

‘I know what is said in relation to your drug addiction
and that you have co-operated with those who have made proposals
to you about how to deal with that.

‘You now realise you have to deal with your drug problem
yourself otherwise you are going to get longer and longer sentences.

‘
Judge Smith then ‘commended’ Miss Martin and Miss Addinall
for ‘the extremely public spirited actions they took in helping
the victim and the defendant to be caught.

‘
Sinclair, of Larch Close, Deptford, pleaded guilty to
robbing Miss White at about 7.

30pm on August 10, this year.

ENDS