A DRUG addict has been jailed for threatening three women with a screwdriver and demanding money from them in the street.

Gavin King, 37, held the weapon to the necks of his victims during a 30-minute daylight crime spree in the centre of Witney.

A judge described the ordeal as “terrifying” for the three women involved, including a 79-year-old, while sentencing King at Oxford Crown Court on Tuesday.

John Upton, prosecuting, told the court the three offences took place on Wednesday, December 10 last year.

He said a 16-year-old girl witnessed King holding a screwdriver to the neck of a woman, who has never been identified, in Corn Street, Witney, and shouting at her to hand over her money.

The girl then saw him approach 66-year-old Elaine Hennerby, who was pushing her bicycle along Welch Way, and threaten to stab her in the neck if she did not give him money. King then walked up to his third victim, Monica Hester, 79, who was getting out of her car in Moorland Road. She told him she had no money, then persuaded two passing men to give her £10, which she passed on to King, who then left.

He was arrested nearby with the screwdriver in his possession and later admitted the offences.

Jane Brady, defending, said King, of Main Road, Long Hanborough, had a long history of mental illness and substance abuse, but had never been in custody before.

In a statement Mrs Hennerby said she would understand if the court offered King support, rather than a prison sentence. Mrs Hester said he must have been desperate to be behaving as he was.

Sentencing King to two years and four months in prison, Judge Ian Pringle said: “What you did was terrifying for these three ladies. It’s a remarkable testament to their courage how they dealt with you in their individual ways.”

Judge Pringle added: “You have had many problems with schizoaffective disorder and it’s not helped if you abuse substances, which you have done.”

King was sentenced to two years and four months prison for three counts of attempted robbery to run concurrently.

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