Anthony Gent and Adam Leonard demanded cash but then set about the victim with the bat, Teesside Crown Court heard.
The vulnerable shopkeeper was attacked at night while alone in his general store in Sandringham Road, Redcar.
He suffered serious facial injuries and was left lying on the floor while his hooded attackers made off with the till.
Police received reports of smashing noises coming from an alleyway and youths running off. Officers found the smashed-up till and coins left behind.
Gent and Leonard, plus a teenager who had acted as lookout during the robbery, were found at a nearby address. When searched in custody, Gent was found to have money hidden in his buttocks, the court heard.
Yesterday Gent, Leonard and the 17-year-old, who can’t be named, appeared at Teesside Crown Court to be sentenced for the June 2 robbery, which was admitted.
Only the day before, on June 1, Gent had been involved in another robbery in which a Redcar supermarket was raided for cigarettes and alcohol. Gent asked for this second robbery to be taken into consideration.
The court heard the victim of the baseball bat attack suffered a fractured cheekbone and had been left in extreme pain. The shop premises was also their home and he and his wife had been left feeling nervous and apprehensive.
The court heard that Gent and Leonard’s previous convictions both included robbery.
Barristers for both men said they accepted they faced substantial sentences. Nigel Soppitt, for Gent, said events were hazy as he had taken drink and drugs but he had pleaded guilty and shown remorse.
Richard Bennett, for Leonard, said he had been candid and wanted it to be known that he had wielded the bat.
Mr Bennett said Leonard is in a state of shock after his friend, Lucas Bishop, was very recently killed.
Gent, 21, of Scott Street, Redcar, was jailed for six years and four months in jail while Leonard, 22, of Bradhope Road, Middlesbrough, received a six-year jail term. The 17-year-old, from Redcar, had his existing referral order extended.
The Recorder of Middlesbrough, Judge Simon Bourne-Arton QC described Gent and Leonard as “very dangerous young men” who had thought nothing of their “luckless” victim and carried out the offence for their own selfish needs.
After the case, Detective Sergeant Paul Husband said: “They have been given a lengthy custodial sentence which reflects the serious nature of the robbery, which saw an innocent, lone shopkeeper exposed to a traumatic ordeal, sustaining serious facial injuries as a result of their actions.”
Article from Gazette Live
http://www.gazettelive.co.uk/news/teesside-news/redcar-baseball-bat-robbers-jailed-6020608
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