A 35-year-old man named Craig Parkinson has been sentenced to five years in prison for holding a knife to a woman’s throat and robbing her after he conned her into giving him a lift. Parkinson approached the victim on High Street in Rochdale claiming he was in danger. He said that he was being followed by a gang of men and needed a lift.
The woman was kind enough to help Parkinson, but realized that the decision was a mistake when held a knife to her throat after asking her to pull over on Peel Street.
He then grabbed the woman’s handbag from the back of the car. He fled the scene of the crime with the bag and used the victim’s bank card at multiple different locations. His purchases included alcohol and flowers, among other items.
The incident took place on September 6th, at around 2 pm, and he was arrested three days later.
He was charged and pleaded guilty to robbery, possession of a bladed article, and three counts of fraud by false representation.
On Monday, November 16th, Parkinson was sentenced to five years and three months in prison at Manchester Crown Court.
Inspector Andrew Fern of GMP’s Rochdale District said that, “We can’t understate the impact this offence has had on the woman.
“Her life was turned upside down by Parkinson’s vicious and selfish acts of criminality. Our thoughts are with her and we hope that this sentence will help offer some measure of closure now that Parkinson is behind bars. I would like to take the opportunity to thank the team of officers from the Rochdale Neighbourhood Task Force who quickly and effectively brought Parkinson to justice and continue to make Rochdale a safer place to live,” Fern said, according to Quest Media Network.
There were 43,516 knife crime offences in the 12 months ending March 2019.
This is an 80% increase from the low-point in the year ending March 2014, when there were 23,945 offences, and is the highest number since comparable data was compiled.
These statistics do not include those from Greater Manchester Police because of data recording issues.
Out of the 44 police forces, 43 recorded a rise in knife crime since 2011.
The number of knife-related homicides went from 272 in 2007 to 186 in 2015. Since then, it’s risen every year, with a steep increase in 2017-18, when there were 285 killings, the highest figure since 1946.
One in four victims were men aged 18-24. In the year to March 2019, 22,041 people were cautioned, reprimanded or convicted for carrying a knife in England and Wales
