A SKERTON man who robbed a woman in a dark alleyway near Lancaster Castle has been jailed for more than five years. Darren Biddulph, 28, of Skerton House, Mainway, was told by the judge that he had put his victim through "every citizen's fear" when he wrestled her to the floor and pinned her down. Mrs Julia Hurst was robbed of £35 by Biddulph as she walked between the castle and priory. A man walking with her was deterred from intervening by a knife-wielding accomplice who has evaded arrest.

Biddulph denied robbery and said he was at home at the time of the attack but the jury unanimously convicted him at the end of a three day trial.

He was picked out of two separate identity parades by Mrs Hurst and her companion in February this year.

On the same day as the identity parade, Biddulph assaulted a store detective in the city while attempting to resist arrest on suspicion of theft. Following the guilty robbery verdict, he pleaded guilty to the assault with intent to resist arrest.

Defence counsel Keith Thomas, said Biddulph had a long record but nothing before of serious violence. He did not know at the time that the other man was carrying a knife.

The robbery took place just a month after he was released from a previous prison sentence.

Jailing him for five years for the robbery with three months for assault and resisting arrest, the Judge Alistair Webster QC, said the victim would live with the nightmare of the attack for the rest of her life.

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