A PROLIFIC offender who “disobeyed the law without caring” for many years has been jailed for a violent theft in Oxford.

Notorious troublemaker Lewis Felton grabbed a nursery assistant by her hair, knocked her to the ground, repeatedly stamped on her face and smashed her head against a barrier as she walked to work through Spindleberry Park, on the edge of Blackbird Leys.

Zoe Mollart, 22, was attacked at 7am on December 16 last year. Felton had been drinking heavily and had taken cocaine the night before.

The 21-year-old already has 25 convictions for 58 offences on a criminal record that stretches back to when he was a 12-year-old schoolboy. Felton was also given a two-year Antisocial Behaviour Order (Asbo) in January 2007.

He had admitted a charge of robbery at an earlier hearing and was jailed for 40 months at Oxford Crown Court on Friday.

Deirdre Philpott, prosecuting, said: “As she (Miss Mollart) was walking, she became aware of a man on a pedal cycle, who cycled up to her. When he got close, he reached out with his right arm and tried to grab her handbag.

“She pulled away and tried to run away. He got off his bike and ran after her. He caught up with her and grabbed her by her hair and the hood of her coat and pulled her into a wall.

“He again grabbed her handbag and she tried to hang on to it. After a few minutes’ struggle, he then put his arm round her neck and used considerable force to throw her to the ground.

“She was kicked by him and he then stamped on her right cheek about three times. She continued to hold on to her bag.

“He then grabbed her by the back of her hair and banged her head against a metal barrier there. At this point, she let go of the bag.”

Miss Mollart went to get help at the Holiday Inn hotel, at the Kassam Stadium.

Felton, of Deer Walk, Greater Leys, was arrested four days later.

Benjamin Narain, defending, said Felton had been “heavily under the influence of alcohol” and had been using cocaine, but said he showed “a real understanding and empathy for what he’s done and the impact it would have had on the victim”.

Judge Patrick Eccles said it was “a truly appalling street robbery” with “so many aggravating features”, which would have been “immensely frightening” to the victim. He added: “This was wanton violence. It may not have been the most extreme violence but it was persistent violence.

“You have a long history of persistent antisocial behaviour... (you are) somebody who has disobeyed the law without caring for a number of years.”

Mr Narain added: “(Felton) has a problem with drink which seems to derive from boredom and not being in employment.”

  • Lewis Felton was first given an interim Asbo in July 2006 which, among other conditions, banned him from riding other people’s bicycles and going out in parts of Oxford at night unless with his mother or a teacher.

  • A full two-year Asbo was issued in January 2007. He was sent to a Young Offenders’ Institution the following month for a previous breach of the interim order.

    In an overview of Felton’s 58 previous offences, Judge Eccles was told they were “mainly for dishonesty, driving and antisocial behaviour”. His previous crimes include driving while disqualified last September, handling stolen goods, possession of controlled drugs and battery.