Robber jailed after attack on rough sleeper in York

The victim was sleeping rough on the streets in York city centre when he was awoken by a man in a red t-shirt holding a knife, said Michael Greenhalgh, prosecuting.

He tried to grab the knifeman's hand and said: "I am not going to let you stab me," said the barrister at York Crown Court.

He managed to push the attacker away and fled, jumping over two walls as he did so.

But he had to leave his belongings behind.

As he escaped, one of the two men with the knifeman, Corey Oscar Emre Gorst, rifled through them and took £50 in cash, said Mr Greenhalgh.

Judge Simon Hickey said the victim, who had come to York to be near his children, was so terrified by the incident he had moved to Durham.

Although now, 18 months later, he has a home, he still wakes in the night fearing what could have happened.

Gorst, now 20, of no fixed address, pleaded guilty to robbery, which happened near the junction of Gillygate and Lord Mayor's Walk.

He was jailed for 32 months, to be served after he finishes a sentence of four and a half years for grievous bodily harm and attempted wounding with intent in the same incident and carrying a knife in a separate incident at a grocery store.

When the earlier sentence was imposed, York Crown Court heard Gorst wounded a man who grabbed the blade of the machete with which Gorst was trying to hack a second man's neck in Clifton.

Representing Gorst at the robbery hearing, John Hobley said he was impulsive and emotionally unstable.

"He almost immediately regretted his actions," said the defence barrister.

He had not planned to take the victim's money.

At the time of the robbery in June 2018, Gorst had been a drug user but since September 2018 had been tackling his addiction behind bars.

Mr Greenhalgh said the knifeman and two other men had been caught on CCTV cycling through the city centre at 5am on June 20, 2018.

A Swiss army knife with Gorst's DNA on was found near the robbery scene.