Samurai sword wielding robbers slashed at victim and demanded cannabis

Reece Tickell and Liam Youngson, both 24, had binged on alcohol and Xanax before going tooled up to their victim’s home in Manor Close, Drayton, on May 6.

Oxford Crown Court heard the men knocked at the door.

Tickell told the householder ‘I want you to hold something’ as he pulled out a kitchen knife with a nine inch blade. Youngson set about the man with a two-and-a-half foot Samurai sword.

The robbers demanded of the victim, who had a hydroponics cannabis-growing kit set up in a wardrobe: “Give us your money, give us your weed.”

As Tickell ordered the man to turn out his pockets, Youngson warned: “Don’t **** us around.”

They left the property with some tobacco and cannabis that was on the living room table. Their victim, who had soiled himself in the attack, suffered cuts and bruises – but refused to go to hospital.

In a victim personal statement read to the court by prosecutor Ami Jones the man described himself being left an emotional wreck as a result of the robbery.

Tickell was arrested in a house on neighbouring Hilliat Fields. The Samurai sword was found nearby.

Liam Youngson and Reece Tickell's custody shots Picture: TVP

Jailing the men for seven-and-a-half years each, Judge Michael Gledhill QC said: “The two of you in my view knew the complainant in this case was likely to have controlled drugs in his premises, likely to be cannabis but perhaps other drugs as well.

“The two of you were in an intoxicated state and decided to go and relieve him of what ever drugs he had in his premises. That was what you did and you both armed yourself with a nasty looking knife and a Samurai sword.

“You were quite happy to use the weapons and, indeed, if necessary to inflict really serious harm.”

Tickell, of Windrush Place, Abingdon, had been out of prison on licence when he committed the robbery. His seven previous convictions included a three year jail sentence in 2019 for dealing drugs.

In a letter to the judge read to the court by barrister Kellie Enever, Tickell said that he was remorseful, felt ‘so bad’ for what he had done to the victim, and could not remember much of the evening as it was ‘all a blur’.

Sumita Mahtab-Shaikh, for Youngson, of Magdalen Road, Oxford, said her client had had a difficult childhood. In the months before the robbery his life had spiralled out of control after he lost his warehouse job. He was remorseful and took full responsibility for his actions.

Both defendants pleaded guilty at an earlier hearing to robbery and possession of a bladed article.

Manor Close, Drayton Picture: GOOGLE

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