Two Jailed For Threatening Man For His Mobile In Highgate

1 April 2015, 18:32 | Updated: 30 March 2016, 13:50

Two Birmingham men have been jailed for more than eight years after luring a friend to a Highgate flat and beating him until he handed over his mobile phone.

Aron Johnson, 33, and Craig Kelly, 27, were arrested following the attack in Brinklow Tower, Highgate last year, which left a 21-year-old man with serious bruising - and without his HTC mobile phone.

The young man was lured to the flat on 16 September by a woman he knew - Natalie Walter - but when he arrived events didn’t go as planned, when two other men were already present and demanded his phone.

They threatened the victim with two large knives before 19-year-old Walter punched him into a corner.

They kicked and punched him until he handed over the phone, worth around £200.

Kelly, of Leopold Street, was arrested on 1 October after being identified as one of the attackers, with Johnson, of no fixed address, handing himself in to a local police station two days later.

The pair were later charged with robbery and appeared before Birmingham Crown Court where they pleaded guilty - Kelly in January this year and Johnson on 24 March. They returned to court for sentencing on 27 March where they were each given four years and six months imprisonment for their part in the attack.

Teenager, Walter, of Brinklow Tower, was also charged with robbery and she pleaded guilty on 24th March. The 19-year-old will be sentenced on 21 April.

Investigating officer, DC Rhiannon Daff from Birmingham Police Investigation Team, said: "This was a shocking, upsetting experience for the victim, who was lured to the location by a person he thought he knew and trusted.

"It was just fortunate his injuries weren’t more serious and he can now move forward now the offenders have been brought to justice."