A HOUSEHOLDER answering a knock on his front door was greeted by a man threatening him with a claw hammer and demanding his bike.

The alarmed victim felt that  he had no choice but to allow 47-year-old Gary Wilson to take the bike, which at the time was parked in the hallway of his home.

Disturbingly, a short time after he had made the initial threat with the hammer, the defendant returned to the same house and repeated the offence, again brandishing the hammer and then taking away a second bike, Carlisle Crown Court heard.

Wilson, of Warwick Road, Carlisle, admitted robbery.

Brendan Burke, prosecuting, described the background to the offence, which Wilson committed on October 30 last year.

A local woman who was known by the defendant had claimed property was being stolen from her and she "wrongly believed" that the owner of the bikes had been sending people to her home to “bother her.”

She expressed her feelings about this to Wilson.

“He took it upon himself to go round to [the victim’s] address and knock on the door. He answered to be confronted by this defendant, complaining about what had been going on,” said the barrister.

“The previous day, he had remonstrated with [the victim] about sending people round to [the woman’s] address and he then produced a claw hammer and raised it as if to strike him.”

Wilson then grabbed the bicycle which the victim had parked in the hallway.

As the defendant left, he told the victim: “If you call the police, you’ll have to fight me first and when I’m released I know where you live.”

The victim asked Wilson why he was acting as he was and pointed out that he was unwell.

Despite his protests, the defendant returned a short time later, and again produced the hammer as he took the victim’s second bike, which was not working since its gears were disconnected and dangling beside the front wheel.

The court heard that the woman who had accused the victim later returned one of the bikes.

She appeared annoyed as she did that, said Mr Burke.

The court heard that Wilson, of Warwick Road, Carlisle, has 64 offences on his record, and he was classed as a “prolific thief.” His record also includes non-dwelling burglaries.

Tariq Khawam, defending, said there was a lack of violent offending on Wilson’s record and so that robbery could be regarded as “out of character."

A background report suggested the defendant could benefit from work to address his use of drugs and alcohol, said the lawyer. Mr Khawam added that while on remand Wilson had served the equivalent of an eight-month sentence.

Recorder Julian Shaw said there was obviously a background to the offence, with suggestions and allegations no doubt linked to drug involvement and other addictions.

The judge accepted that no violence was used but the threat of it was clearly there.

“You brandished that claw hammer and you threatened [the victim],” said the judge. Recorder Shaw noted also the defendant’s appalling record, most of it related to acquisitive crime.

“You still appear to be addicted to drugs and addicted to alcohol,” observed the judge. The long period spent on remand meant that he could consider a suspended sentence with rehabilitation.

Recorder Shaw imposed two years jail, suspended for two years.

The sentence includes 15 rehabilitation activity days, 120 days of alcohol abstinence, which will be electronically monitored; and a three-month drug rehabilitation requirement.

The judge also imposed a five-year restraining order banning any contact with the victim. The judge told the defendant: “You are now 47 and getting rather long in the tooth for offending of this nature.”