Hull Crown Court heard the pair ‘planned to rob the dealer from the get-go’ and had been caught because of the video
A teenage cannabis dealer was threatened with a knife when he was suddenly targeted by two young robbers during a bad-tempered drugs exchange. One of the troublemakers was “smirking” when he made the “idiotic” decision to film the nasty confrontation.
The cannabis sale turned violent when one of the pair pointed the knife and warned the dealer that he would “make a scene” unless he handed over money, two vapes and two metal chains. The teenager was warned that there would be “war” if he told anyone – but the two bullies landed themselves in hot water with the police after posting the video online, a court heard.
Leon Stark, 19, of Everest Road, Scunthorpe, and Kian Daly, 20, of Baysgarth View, Barton-upon-Humber, both admitted robbery between May 27 and June 10, 2023. Daly also admitted possessing a knife.
Stephen Welch, prosecuting, told Hull Crown Court that Daly telephoned a teenager and asked him to supply a small amount of cannabis. The 19-year-old dealer agreed and they arranged to meet nearby in a parkland area of Scunthorpe.
Daly and Stark turned up and Stark filmed them on his phone. Daly asked to smell the cannabis and the teenager handed it over. “Daly put both wraps in his pocket,” said Mr Welch.
Daly pulled out a knife, held it to the teenager’s belly and demanded money or he would “make a scene”. Fearing that he would be stabbed, the teenager handed over £8 cash, two vapes and two metal neck chains, supposedly worth £400 but bought for only £10.
Stark continued to film the confrontation and he was “smirking”. Daly twice threatened the dealer: “If you tell anyone, we will be back. There will be war if you tell anyone.”
The video of the robbery was uploaded online and people who knew the teenager persuaded him that he should report the matter to the police. A friend of his persuaded Daly and Stark to return the stolen items, apart from the two vapes.
Daly later told the victim: “You have got your chains back. Don’t be a c***.” The teenager was scared that Daly and Stark would come back.
The pair “planned to rob him from the get go” and it was “idiotic” of Stark to film the confrontation because, after it was posted online, that was how the police became involved. Stark did not produce a knife but he “played his part in” the robbery by filming it.
The court heard that Daly and Stark both had previous convictions. Daly had, after the robbery, been locked up for 41 weeks in July last year for an offence of affray. Stark had been given a community order imposed for public disorder, assault and criminal damage offences.
Sentence had originally been deferred for six months on May 1 so that Stark and Daly could prove that they could stay out of trouble. At a resumed hearing, Cathy Kioko-Gilligan, mitigating, said that Stark had complied well with the terms of the deferment.
He had shown a significant degree of immaturity at the time of the offence. Judge Mark Bury told Stark: “I told you back in May that, if you bucked your ideas up, I would not lock you up and so I won’t lock you up.”
Stark was given 20 days’ rehabilitation and a six-month monitoring order. “If you breach it, I will sentence you to custody,” said Judge Bury.
Sentence on Daly was adjourned until November 28. Daly told the earlier hearing that he did not know the “quite nerdy” teenager before the robbery.
“I have never met him before,” he said. “That was the first time. I didn’t know who was coming.” Daly agreed that it was “not too clever” to produce a knife.
Daly said that his time in Hull Prison was “not the best place to be” and, after his release, he was later recalled to custody for 12 days for breaching his licence conditions. He was later released again.