A Forfar knife-attacker has been jailed for 26 months after a terrifying and “amateurish” attempted raid on a newsagent’s.
Kenneth Campbell was at the height of a diazepam binge when he threatened the shop owner with a large knife in the February incident at the town centre business near his home.
His victim escaped serious harm in what has been described as a “ham-fisted” offence, but has said he will bear the mental scars for life and criticised the early plea discount entitlement which reduced Campbell’s sentence by a third.
Campbell previously admitted the February 21 robbery attempt at Ali’s Newsagent on Castle Street, just a few hundred yards from the 45-year-old’s home.
Campbell burst into the shop wearing a balaclava and told owner Asif Yaqoob: “Give me money, open the till, give me money” in the 5.15pm weekend raid.
“I’m not going to hurt you, I just want money,” he told the businessman.
He pressed the knife at Mr Yaqoob and the pair struggled, with the shop owner managing to take the blade off the raider before Campbell then coolly walked out of the premises empty-handed.
As he threw his balaclava into a nearby bin he was recognised by a passerby and arrested soon after by police who swarmed the area.
Defence solicitor Nick Markowksi said the offence was “truly out of character” for Campbell, who was a hard-working man highly-regarded by his employers.
“Firstly, Mr Campbell has asked me to apologise to the court and the complainer. He is disgusted with himself and has said it is unacceptable to subject another member of the community to this type of attack.”
He said shed-builder Campbell had been paid off during the quieter winter months and slumped into drug-taking.
“He is someone who seems to binge from time to time. He was misusing diazepam and was in the midst of a 10-to- 14-day binge at the time.
“It was ill-conceived, skewed thinking through intoxication,” Mr Markowski said.
Sheriff Gregor Murray said: “You carried out a ham-fisted and amateurish robbery with a large and very threatening weapon and the poor man has suffered considerable mental and physical difficulties since.”
But he said a plea which Campbell offered at the very earliest stage was almost exactly what had been finally accepted by the Crown and that entitled him to discount, restricting the sentence from 39 months to 26.
“Had it not been for the other factors, this might well have been a case that was remitted to the High Court for sentence,” said the sheriff.Local support has ‘lessened the pain’ for victimDrug-crazed Kenneth Campbell’s actions on what was a normal Saturday afternoon will haunt popular shopkeeper Asif Yaqoob for the rest of his life.
Outwardly, the 34-year-old may seem the same cheery, chatty local businessman they have known him to be since he moved into the long-standing Forfar town centre shop four years ago.
But after his assailant was jailed for two years and two months, Asif told The Courier: “It’s very difficult and very painful for me it comes back to me again and again.
“Every evening when I shut up my shop it plays on my mind and where before I was relaxed with my customers I am now more vigilant, which it shouldn’t have to be.”
He added: “It was a shock, I have lived and worked in big cities and different countries and it is not something you expect to happen at a family business in a town like Forfar.
“The day after it happened I was up to do the Sunday papers and open my shop, and I had the courage to do that thanks to my family and friends. They wanted to come in with me, but I said I wanted to do it.
“I would also like to speak about the great response from the customers,” said Asif.
The dramatic Saturday tea-time events were witnessed by many on the busy street as police swooped on the shop and were on Campbell’s trail within minutes.
In the days after the shed-builder’s arrest, concerned customers took flowers and baking into the shop, some in tears over what had happened.
“The response from the people in Forfar has made me feel more comfortable and that part has lessened the pain of what happened and been a good part of a bad thing,” added Asif.
But the victim has a different view on the early plea discount which cut by a third the time Campbell will spend behind bars.
“Where are the people we elect to represent us when it comes to making and changing laws like this?
“We are the hard-working people trying to get on, but there’s no discount for us on anything. It’s like we’re running two different laws.”
He added: “I have to accept the sentence of the court, but what about the victims? For me there is no discount it is a lifetime scar on my memory.”