Two robbers showed no mercy as they ignored a frightened shop keeper's pleas not to rob the shop he worked in.
TeessideLive reports that hours later, one of them held a knife to a taxi driver's throat, as the other punched him repeatedly in the face and emptied his pockets.
Christina Youll, 46, and Joanne Baillie, 42, left the taxi driver terrified, as he told them he had a family and they could "take all they wanted."
On Monday 15 April, the two women appeared at Teesside Crown Court to be sentenced. Baillie was also charged with two counts of assaulting an emergency worker.
The court heard that in February, Baillie teamed up with pal Christina Youll to carry out two robberies, whilst they were high on class A drugs.
A shop assistant, was closing their store in the Hemlington area, just before 10pm on February 20, and saw the two women "with their hoods up, peering in through the window."
"Youll smashed the window with a brick and they broke in" Victoria Lamballe, prosecuting, told the court.
"They told him not to shout and demanded money. Youll was behind the till, the victim could see she had a large kitchen knife. Baillie held a smaller knife."
The shop assistant was captured on CCTV, his hands together as he pleaded with the two women not to rob the shop; as Youll took bottles of alcohol and cigarettes. They left carrying a basket full of their haul.
Hours later, on February 21, the two called a taxi to pick them up from an address in Hemlington and along with another man asked to be taken to Asda, on Portrack Lane.
The man stayed in the taxi as the women went into the shop. But when the taxi driver saw them arguing with a security guard, "he did not feel he could drive off" Ms Lamballe said, " as the male remained in his car."
They were driven to an address in Norton and then back to Hemlington. But when the women asked the driver to let them out further up the street, he became suspicious and refused.
"Youll leaned forward and held a kitchen knife to his throat - ordering him 'to give me all your money'."
The court heard that the driver told her to take all she wanted, and pleaded with her not to hurt him, as he had a family.
Baillie punched the driver repeatedly to his face, before taking his iPhone, car keys and cash from his pockets. They left the taxi.
Ms Lamballe said that the man's phone and keys were later found in a bush. The taxi driver said he was "physically sick" with fear.
The two were arrested hours later. but Baillie told officers: "You're not f****** taking me like" before biting one officer on the hand.
Youll, from Middlesbrough, pleaded guilty to two counts of robbery, and to two counts of the possession of a knife. She has 28 previous convictions for 48 offences.
In March 2021, she was jailed for 21-months for attacking a man at a party, before stamping him as he lay bleeding on the ground.
Baillie, also from Middlesbrough, admitted the robberies and the possession of the knife, in addition to two counts of assaulting an emergency worker. She has 38 previous convictions for 88 offences, which include a previous robbery.
Judge Chris Smith told the two women, as they stood in the dock: "The pair of you robbed two men at knifepoint. The shop assistant was deeply frightened, and pleading with you not to rob the store. You completely ignored his pleas, and at one stage pushed him away.
"A few hours later, you held the knife to a taxi driver's throat. I can imagine just how terrified he was, in the close quarters of his car."
Youll was jailed for five-years-and-two-months; and Baillie was handed a five-year-four-month sentence.
Source: https://www.gazettelive.co.uk/news/teesside-news/ruthless-women-ignored-shop-workers-28997476
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