Jail for masked gang robber who stole scrambler bikes from terrified teens

Bungling robber Kian Booth unwittingly showed his face to CCTV cameras moments after a masked gang stole two motorbikes from terrified teenagers in a Blackpool street, a court heard.

The 20-year-old, from Preston, pulled off his balaclava to pay for fuel in a nearby filling station, giving police the evidence they needed to arrest him, Judge Philip Parry was told.

Booth was jailed for two years at Preston Crown Court after pleading guilty to carrying out the robbery with two other men who remained masked and were never traced.

Clear footage of Booth paying at the garage till was played in court, along with film of him pulling off his face covering on the forecourt before going inside to settle up.

Defence barrister Tom Lord told Judge Parry that his client had been “high on drugs” at the time of the robbery that he didn’t remember any of what had happened.

The court was told that two teenagers, aged 16 and 17, were out riding their scrambler bikes around the streets of South Shore, Blackpool in March 2022 when they became aware of a black car following them.

Booth and two other men were in the vehicle wearing face-coverings and the boys tried their best to get away by riding down side-streets.

But when they stopped in a back street the car pulled up nearby and the three men got out. The vehicle was then driven off by a fourth person.

CCTV footage showed the men approach the boys with their hands inside their jacket pockets which, claimed Mr Parr, was “consistent with the suggestion ‘I have a weapon.’”

The shocked boys stood back and the men took the motorbikes and rode off, with Booth a pillion passenger on one of them.

One of the boys later told police that one of the men had threatened to stab the 16-year-old if they tried to resist.

Two of the men were dressed in all black, with the third wearing a grey gilet. Moments later CCTV cameras at a nearby Tesco store saw the two bikes pull up on the garage forecourt.

One of the bikes was refuelled and the man in the grey gilet walked across to the pay kiosk, pulling off a black balaclava as he did so. A camera inside clearly showed the man was Booth as he paid for the fuel.

Mr Parr said one of the motorcycles had been recovered, but the other had not been traced. Both bikes had been gifts to the boys – one a Christmas present.

When Booth, of Chaffinch Manor, Broughton, Preston was arrested by police he gave “no comment” answers to all questions put to him. The court heard he had no previous convictions at the time.

Mr Lord, for Booth, said his client had heavily misused drugs since his school days. He had an “unstructured lifestyle” and had “gone off the rails.”

“This was a very frightening experience (for the victims),” said Mr Lord. But he added that a report by probation services said he had “a sincere and genuine desire to change.”

“He is a very pleasant young man when he is not on drugs.”

Judge Parry told Booth: “This was plainly a planned robbery because of the balaclavas and other face-coverings and you followed them (the boys) for quite some time.”

He added that when the men approached the boys in the backstreet “they knew they were about to be accosted by you.”

“Panic starts to set in. They were clearly very frightened by what was happening to them. I accept no knives were produced, but you kept (up) the impression that knives were present.

“There was a threat to stab and if they didn’t do what you said they would be in serious trouble. So they handed over their bikes and you and two others rode off.”

The judge said it was a “group attack” targeting high value goods.

Booth was charged with two counts of robbery and was given a total of two years in a young offenders’ institution.

He was also given a further six months sentence by Judge Parry after pleading guilty to a charge of affray in Preston city centre more than a year later.

In that incident a teenager was threatened and had his pedal cycle taken after being surrounded by a group of seven men, including Booth.