Man jailed for more than three years after woman robbed

A man has been jailed for more than three years after a woman was pushed to the ground and robbed in Cannock.

Baydon Whittaker, 22, of Cannock, admitted robbery at an earlier hearing and has been jailed for three-years-and-eight-months at Stafford Crown Court on Friday (3 October).

It happened on 24 May this year on the Mill Green nature reserve. The victim, a woman in her 50s, got out of her car to walk her dog when she spotted a group of people congregated in the area. Whittaker was one of the people in that group. They were all hooded and wearing balaclavas.

The group split up, came up behind the woman and pushed her to the ground. They told her that they wouldn’t hurt her dog but they wanted her car keys. They pinned her down and pried the keys from her hands forcefully before running off and taking the vehicle.

The incident prompted lots of 999 calls. Officers went to the scene quickly to check the victim was okay and to find out who was responsible.

Detectives and staff from our criminal investigations department (CID) reviewed all of the evidence from the scene and were able to identify Whittaker as one of the members of the group. He was arrested, admitted his involvement, and was charged.

Another man, aged 21 from Walsall, was also identified and charged with robbery, theft of motor vehicle, driving while disqualified, possessing a controlled drug of class B – cannabis and using a motor vehicle on a road without third party insurance. He admitted all of the offences and is due to be sentenced at Stafford Crown Court on 14 November. He was arrested when he was found in the stolen car after it was pursued later the same day and crashed into a hedge.

Detective Constable Reece Hingley, from CID, said: “The victim in this incident was subjected to a forceful robbery and was left extremely distressed by what the group had done.

“Through our investigation, we’ve been able to identify some of the members, despite their attempts to hide their identity, and have secured two positive results in court, with the second offender still to be sentenced.

“Tackling robbery, theft and burglary is one of our key priorities in Staffordshire and we are determined to deliver justice for the victims affected by this type of criminality.”

By working proactively to tackle burglary, theft and robbery, we were able to reduce the total amount of related crimes in 2024, when compared to 2023.