Couple dealt with for 'mean and nasty' robbery in Oxford

Colin Sumner, 41, and Rebecca Tremlett, 26, were said by the victim to have ‘lynched’ him as he came out of a block of flats in Barton, where a judge concluded he had been likely paying for drugs that he had taken in the past.

By ‘lynched’, the victim meant that he was ‘jumped’ by the pair in the early hours of May 23, 2019.

He said Sumner claimed to have a knife, although in a basis of plea to the robbery charge the defendant denied that he had a weapon on him.

The man pushed the victim, taking him to the ground. Tremlett helped out by rifling through their victim’s pockets.

READ MORE: Jury is told that defendant's 'on her way back from shops'

It was only when a neighbour heard the kerfuffle outside and came out to investigate, scaring the couple away, that the robbery came to an end.

The victim later discovered that his wallet, containing a small amount of cash and his bank card, had been taken.

During the trial, Tremlett claimed to have been in bed and asleep at the time of the robbery. Giving evidence at Oxford Crown Court yesterday (January 11), said she had gone to bed at around 10pm on May 22 with her partner and woke up the following morning.

She knew nothing about what happened until she received a Facebook message from the alleged victim complaining of the robbery, she said.

She had messaged him previously to meet to take drugs together, although she said they did not in fact meet on the night of the alleged robbery.

Jurors were told that a message was sent to the victim from Tremlett’s Facebook profile after the robbery was reported to the police, accusing him of being a ‘grass’ and saying she was ‘not happy’.

READ MORE: Barton robbery trial hears from victim

Sentencing the pair at Oxford Crown Court on Wednesday (April 12), Judge Michael Gledhill KC commended the efforts of the bystander who stepped up and scared the robbers away, awarding him £400 from public funds.

While Sumner, of Stowford Road, Barton, pleaded guilty to the robbery charge on a basis, co-defendant Tremlett, of Donnington Bridge Road, Oxford, maintained her innocence to the charge.

A trial began in her absence, but she attended in time to give her account from the witness box – after learning about the trial when she spotted her name in the Oxford Mail.

She was remanded into custody by the judge when, after spending the morning giving evidence in the trial, she ignored an instruction to stay in the court building over lunch and returned intoxicated in the afternoon.

Click here to sign up to the Crime and Court newsletter (Image: Newsquest)

On Wednesday, Judge Gledhill was told that she had been addicted to drugs since a very traumatic childhood. She had remained abstinent from drugs being remanded in custody.

Sumner was said to have managed to cut his drug use from spending £100 a day on his addiction to £40 a fortnight. He was working with addiction charity Turning Point, and had his own accommodation.

Describing the robbery as ‘mean’ and ‘nasty’, Judge Gledhill recognised Tremlett’s deep-seated difficulties but jailed her for 30 months. Sumner, who unlike his co-defendant pleaded guilty to the charge, received two years’ imprisonment suspended for two years.