A man who took a knife from his girlfriend’s home and ambushed a city travel agent in a bid to rob him of £11,000 has been jailed for 40 months.
Darren Anderson had hatched the desperate scheme hoping to pay off drug debts with the money.
Anderson, 24, a prisoner at Edinburgh, admitted that on February 18, on Whitehall Street, he assaulted Kenneth Taylor, presented a knife at him, attempted to pull his rucksack from him and attempted to rob him of the rucksack and its contents.
The court heard he had planned the operation with the knowledge Mr Taylor would be carrying the takings.
Depute fiscal Saima Rasheed said: “Anderson’s girlfriend worked at Ramsay Travel and the accused accompanied her to work. At 9.30am on February 18 Mr Taylor went to take the mail and £11,000 takings from the previous day to the travel company’s office and then to the bank.
“He carried it in a black rucksack and walked along the bottom of Crichton Street with the intention of taking it into Whitehall Street where the office was. He became aware of a male in a dark tracksuit top with the hood up running down the pavement.
“Mr Taylor entered a close on Whitehall Street and walked upstairs into a secure, unmanned office where he dropped the mail off and then slung the rucksack, which still contained the money, back over his shoulder.
“He went out of the office into the close and saw the accused standing there. The accused pointed a knife at him and demanded he hand over the rucksack. Mr Taylor refused and tried to punch Anderson and started running down the stairs.
“The accused tried to grab the rucksack, but Mr Taylor shoved his shoulder into Anderson which broke Anderson’s grip on the bag. The accused ran into the road and was lost to sight.”
The court heard Anderson was later traced by police after CCTV showed him running down Whitehall Crescent. A knife was found to be missing from a block of knives at his girlfriend’s house.”
Douglas McConnell, defending, said his client’s actions had been “borne out of desperation”.
He said: “He was under duress due to drug debts. He was looking for a quick way out of it and it was not a well thought out plan. It was hugely distressing for the complainer.”
Sheriff George Way said he had considered remitting the case to the High Court for sentence, where Anderson would have faced a longer jail term.
He said: “It’s a whole new category when you go out armed with a weapon and effectively follow and ambush someone hoping they’ve got the night’s takings.”