8:00pm Monday 29th June 2009
By Echo Reporter
AN ANGRY robber who used a wine bottle to attack a man he had earlier “befriended” at a Bournemouth pub has been jailed for seven years.
Bournemouth Crown Court heard yesterday how Simon Burgess, 29, had lost his temper when his victim decided to spurn his sexual advances.
Violence flared after Burgess returned to the man’s flat in Bournemouth town centre on December 21 last year following a meeting at the Branksome Arms.
Burgess, from South Kinson Drive, Bournemouth, denied robbery but was convicted following a trial.
He admitted theft, failing to provide a breath sample, driving without insurance, driving while disqualified and taking his victim’s car without consent.
Prosecutor Angela England told the court how Burgess had been released from prison, on licence, after serving part of a six-year sentence for robbery when the catalogue of offences took place.
She said he had told his victim, who had a male partner, that he had “just come out on the gay scene”.
Burgess struck the man on the back of the head with an empty bottle after he pushed him away and offered to call him a taxi.
While his victim sought refuge in his garden, Burgess helped himself to presents from under the Christmas tree, car keys and a phone.
Defending, Tim Bradbury stressed that the robbery had not been planned and that his client had returned to the flat “for other reasons”.
“In a state of confusion, or emotional turmoil, he decided to commit this robbery.
“The background to his offending is a long history of drug abuse and alcohol misuse,” he said.
Sentencing Burgess, Recorder Nicholas Haggan QC told him: “I have come to the conclusion that you did not target this man to rob him. You were then experiencing some confusion in relation to your sexuality.
“I believe you lost your temper with him when he pulled back and you attacked him. I think you pose a significant risk, to the public, of serious harm.”
Burgess’s licence will be endorsed and he will be banned from driving for three years.
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