Sheffield robber knocked nurse unconscious and grabbed bag in shocking bus stop attack

Sheffield Crown Court heard on January 18 how Bradley Potts, aged 34, of Arms Park Drive, Halfway, Sheffield, had been at a nearby bus stop when he knocked the woman unconscious and emptied her handbag in the street.

Judge Rachael Harrison told Potts: “What you did was assault a woman who was just trying to get home after working a shift in a care home. You punched her in the face, pulled her bag, causing her to be knocked to the floor, causing her to be knocked out for a short period of time.”

Stephanie Hollis, prosecuting, said the 51-year-old complainant is a care home nurse and she had been heading home about 7.10pm, on December 11, 2022, but due to weather problems she decided to head to a bus stop in Halfway.

The complainant noticed Potts talking to himself and he claimed he was waiting for a taxi and he asked her to go with him, asked for a cigarette and asked what she had in her handbag, according to Ms Hollis.

Ms Hollis said the defendant tried to pull the complainant’s handbag from her grasp and there was a tussle before witnesses said he punched the nurse in the face and emptied the contents of her bag.

Potts, who was arrested at the scene, told police he had not been sleeping at the time and he had been consuming cocaine and alcohol.

The defendant, who has previous convictions for violence and public order offences, pleaded guilty to the robbery.

Cheryl Dudley, defending, said: “The defendant did not leave the scene. He remained at the scene and appears to have immediately acknowledged the seriousness of what he had done.”

Judge Harrison, who sentenced Potts to 40 months of custody, said if the circumstances had been legally open to her she would have deemed the defendant to be officially regarded as a ‘dangerous offender’ which would have allowed her to impose an uplift on the sentence but she said this option was not available to her.