Troubled teenagers robbed 34 victims in violent robberies

John Smith, 16, of Romford Road, E7 and Shemar Williams, 16, of Chestnut Avenue, E7 were sentenced at Snaresbrook Crown Court on Friday, April 29. They targeted people on mopeds and unsuspecting women, whose handbags were forced from their hands as the crooks rode behind them.Criminals of this sort have been profiled many times by psychologists over the years. They usually come from single parent homes, were there is very limited discipline , are school drop outs who were academically weak, and generally have low self esteem. The reality of having absentee fathers for many of them means they try to compensate for the missing love by bonding with delinquent groups were they find a sense of belonging. Many of these street groups are made up of individuals with a similar psychological profile and background. They earn street credentials according to the degree of street violence they demonstrate to their inner circle of crooks.

At a quick glance of this pair, the first striking fact is that they are not attractive young boys. This realization can easily lead to a need for them to want to compensate it, especially if they had been teased about their looks at school from their insensitive class mates. However, attractiveness can also be influenced by dress sense, class, education, and other factors.  Not many youths who focus only on their facial features or the reaction they get from their peers are conscious of this.

Nor does it help if they come from turbulent family homes where discord or rejection abounds. At the young age of 16, these boys should be in college trying to increase their chances of a  bright future, though it is easily conceivable that they were not students at school. They may not have got the grades to study their preferred course, but there is always something on offer in college for a school drop out determined to carve a better future for himself.

The boys were caught on CCTV, committing their offenses. Clearly, they were not smart enough to know that Britain is a big police state with CCTV cameras placed in almost every corner of most streets in Britain, or they did not care.

 
WEAPON

All but two of the robberies taken into account were carried out at night and often a weapon, such as a hammer or a knife, was used during the crimes.
Violence was used against the victims, and one man was hospitalized after being robbed of his moped. He has since been discharged.

Smith was sentenced to five years’ imprisonment with a further two years on license when released.
Williams was sentenced to three-and-a-half years’ imprisonment and was further sentenced to 18 months’ imprisonment consecutively for two separate knife-point robberies.

Both had pleaded guilty to conspiracy to rob at an earlier hearing at Snaresbrook Crown Court.
DSI Raffaele D’Orsi, lead on Operation Venice, the Met’s response to moped enabled crime, said: “I want to commend my colleagues from the borough who secured this successful conviction.
“Their work in this case has led to two dangerous individuals being taken off the streets; ultimately stopping them from committing more offenses and causing serious injury to potential victims.