A callous thief on a bicycle has been imprisoned after violently snatching an elderly woman's handbag on a bustling shopping street, sending her crashing painfully to the ground. Daniel Bell, aged 32, targeted the 84-year-old victim outside the Marks and Spencer store on The Pavement in York during a sunny afternoon last July.
Brazen Daylight Attack Captured on CCTV
Shocking closed-circuit television footage from inside the shop reveals Bell stalking the pensioner from behind before mounting his bicycle. In a swift and brutal motion, he grabbed her handbag and began riding away, tearing it from her grasp with such force that she was thrown violently onto the pavement.
The elderly woman suffered a painful head injury after striking it on the hard paving slabs. A Police Community Support Officer who reviewed the footage immediately recognised Bell from numerous previous encounters over the preceding year.
Swift Arrest and Guilty Plea
Authorities tracked down and arrested Bell while he was wearing the exact same clothing he had on during the robbery. Bell, who has no fixed address, pleaded guilty to the robbery and was sentenced on Tuesday to three years and four months in prison.
He was also ordered to pay a £228 victim surcharge after admitting to both robbery and obstructing a police officer in the execution of their duty. The sentence comes after Bell breached a suspended sentence handed down last year for a series of unrelated shoplifting offences committed in York and Harrogate.
Victim's Trauma and Recovery
In a powerful victim impact statement, the elderly woman revealed she had only recently recovered from an operation when Bell targeted her. The injuries sustained during the attack left her unable to drive and forced her to cancel a long-anticipated holiday with a friend.
'The actions of the man who robbed me of my handbag have caused injury to my head and have re-injured my left shoulder,' she stated. 'Being robbed in the street is something you never think would happen to you. You hear about these things happening in big cities like London, but not really in York.'
The victim added that while she has become more apprehensive about going out, she remains a sensible person who tries to be careful in her daily activities.
Condemnation from Authorities
During sentencing, Recorder Andrew Dallas told Bell: 'You are generally one of the people who are a menace to shopkeepers of small or large shops and you make their life hell.'
Detective Constable Ant Coleman of North Yorkshire Police commented: 'This was a callous, opportunistic crime in which the elderly female victim was deliberately targeted as an easy mark. The robbery occurred in the early afternoon on a busy shopping street.'
'York is widely regarded as one of the safest cities in the UK, making incidents like this exceptionally rare. The offender showed complete disregard for the impact of his actions, leaving the victim with a painful head injury after dragging her to the ground.'
DC Coleman added: 'I'm glad Bell is now behind bars where he belongs, and I hope the sentence handed down provides the victim with some reassurance and a sense of justice.'
