Diabetic blamed condition for robbing lone women in their cars in Leeds

Stuart Burns-Smith claimed he was suffering from hypoglycemic episode – low blood-sugar level – and could not remember getting into two women’s cars in Beeston, and walking into a third woman’s home as he looked for items to steal.

Presiding at Leeds Crown Court, Judge Simon Batiste told him he did not accept the excuse, backed up by a medical expert who said his actions were not symptoms of the condition. Burns-Smith was jailed for three years.

Prosecutor Tonicha Allen said the first victim had been on Tempest Road in Beeston at around midday on November 27 last year. She was carrying out a three-point turn in her VW Passat with her two young children in the back when Burns-Smith opened the passenger-side door and got in.

The 37-year-old began rifling through the woman’s handbag in the passenger-side footwell. The woman then began to scream in fear and beeped her car horn to raise the alarm.

A passer-by came to her rescue and Buns-Smith got out and began walking away. However, he then wandered into another woman’s home on the street who had left her door open, but left emptyhanded a short time later and walked towards Beeston Road.

The resident and the woman from the car then followed him, taking video footage of him and challenging him. He told them: “I need help, I’m sorry. I should not have done it.”

But moments after walking away, he got into another parked vehicle owned by a midwife who had returned from an appointment. He grabbed her handbag and rifled through it as she screamed at him to get out. He refused and pushed her back into her seat telling her to drive.

She jumped out and screamed for help, taking her car keys. He stole two bags but realised there was nothing of value so discarded them.

Burns-Smith, of no fixed address, was arrested two days later after his picture had been circulated. He admitted attempted theft from a motor vehicle, burglary dwelling with intent to steal, attempted robbery and theft from the person of another

He has eight convictions for 40 offences, and served two lengthy jail terms – a 66-month stint in 2002 for inflicting GBH, and was given six years’ jail in 2016 for robberies.

A probation report suggested Burns-Smith has been a heavy Class-A drug user throughout his life, but has managed to ween himself off in recent years

Mitigating, Aubrey Sampson said: “He has always accepted the facts from the Crown, he does not dispute it, but he was suffering from hypoglycemia. He is not managing his diabetes in a proper manner.”

He said there was a risk Burns-Smith could lose his foot unless he gets the condition under control, conceding he is the “author of his own misfortune”.

But Judge Batiste was not moved by the claim, telling Mr Sampson: “I’m not satisfied that these offences were caused by his diabetes.”

Addressing Burns-Smith, Judge Batiste told him: “You have a long record for previous convictions. The behaviour you described has not been seen by an expert before.

"I accept you have diabetes, but the symptoms (of hypoglycemia) are not one an expert has come across.”