A member of staff grabbed Jake Bodell’s arm and he was wrestled to the ground with the help of customers, a court heard
Jake Bodell has been jailed(Image: Humberside Police)
A student was left “petrified” when a man held a knife to his neck and demanded money from a college restaurant till and threatened to kill him and others. The judge praised a Hull College female staff member who grabbed Jake Bodell’s arm before he was wrestled to the ground with the help of customers in the Bilocca restaurant, off George Street.
Judge Gurdial Singh said she should be commended for her bravery. She said she was angry at the robbery attempt as some of the students had been traumatised by the incident and no longer wished to work in a restaurant.
In her victim impact statement she said: “I am angry. This has affected them so much they might never want to work in the industry I hold dear.”
At Grimsby Crown Court, Bodell, 28, of no fixed address, admitted attempted robbery, threatening with a knife and affray. Prosecuting, Ben Hammersley said, at the time of the incident, there were around 65 customers in the Bilocca restaurant which is a training restaurant for Hull College students.
At around 7.30pm on April 24 last year, one of the students was suddenly grabbed from behind with an arm around his neck. A knife was produced and held at the student’s neck.
Bodell threatened to kill him unless another student opened the till and gave him money. One of the ten students working in the restaurant tried in vain to open the till. However, due to her distress, she was unable to open it.
Another female staff member then rushed at the attacker and grabbed his arm holding the knife. Bodell lunged the knife at her but it became snagged in her jacket.
Customers then tackled the knifeman to the ground, where he began lashing out and threatening to stab them. Mr Hammersley said Bodell shouted at the customers: “I’m going to find you all and kill you.
“If you don’t give me the money, once my sentence is done, I’m coming back to stab everyone. I’m going to prison, but that’s what I wanted anyway.”
Reading from the students’ victim impact statements, Mr Hammersley said the student who had the knife held to his neck felt “petrified” and he “never wants to go back to the restaurant”. He said it had affected not only him, but also his parents.
Another student said she no longer wished to work in hospitality and had given up her other job at a bar in Hull temporarily because of the ordeal. “It has massively affected me,” she said, describing her “fear, shaking and worry.”
She added: “I could not open the till. I felt like it would have been my fault if anything had happened. I would never have been able to forgive myself.
“There was no money in the till to be taken anyway. I don’t deserve what I have been put through.”
The staff member who tried to disarm Bodell said: “It has changed my life forever. I am angry.
“This has affected them so much they might never want to work in the industry I hold dear. Something was taken. What he stole was my sense of safety.”
A customer said she was celebrating her partner’s mother’s birthday and the attempted robbery had marred the celebration. “No one has the right to make anyone feel unsafe and feel like they are in a war zone,” she said.
Mr Hammersley said police were called as soon as customers wrestled Bodell to the floor. He has 26 convictions for 52 offences, many for theft and one for possession of a blade.
He added the attempted robbery was committed during the period of a community order from court for a previous offence. For Bodell, Amber Hobson said her client had an emotionally unstable personality disorder and had been stuck in a “cycle of substance misuse”.
He was currently progressing on a methadone programme while in custody in prison, she said. “He is genuinely sorry for the harm he caused. He did not understand the consequences of his actions and impact on others,” said Miss Hobson.
Judge Singh said it was a restaurant where students get experience of their chosen industry. “It was an incredible act of bravery by the member of staff, which I commend as she tried to disarm you.
“She grabbed the arm which had the knife. Other members of the public assisted and you were pinned down by others. That was not before you were lashing out with the knife. It was luck rather than judgement that no one was seriously injured.”
He added: “You behaved like the criminal you are. You did it because you are a drug addict and you went to the restaurant to take money to feed your habit. Nothing more, nothing less.”
He jailed Bodell for a total of six years and eight months and told him he will serve two-thirds before being considered for parole.