A KNIFE-WIELDING robber caught with the help of the Oxford Mail’s Badvent calendar has been jailed.

Ashley Appleby was among Oxford’s most wanted criminals after failing to turn up for his trial.

But after an appearance in our Badvent series, run in conujunction with Thames Valley Police featuring a different on-the-run crook every day in the run-up to Christmas, he was arrested within days following an anonymous tip-off.

And at Oxford Crown Court on Thursday the 21-year-old was locked up for four years and eight months.

Prosecutor Greg Unwin said victim Scott Greasley was walking along Sandy Lane West near the Oxford Spires Academy, formerly Peers School, in the early hours of January 26, 2011.

Appleby, of no fixed address, approached him and put a penknife to his victim’s neck before stealing his bag containing an HTC smart phone.

Mr Unwin said the victim was left “feeling very stressed and depressed” and was anxious about walking alone at night.

The defendant was convicted of one count of robbery by jurors last month and admitted one count of failing to surrender to court bail.

The court heard he has a number of previous convictions including assault causing actual bodily harm in which he launched an unprovoked attack on a member of the public. On another occasion, Mr Unwin said, Appleby “held his partner to a bed and held a pair of scissors to her neck”.

Both offences led to suspended prison sentences that Appleby breached a number of times, the court heard.

Nigel Daly, defending, said: “The mitigation in this case is his age – he’s 21 – and what he’s done since the conviction.”

Mr Daly said his client has had “problems with drugs and problems with alcohol” but is now free of both addictions and has been working hard since being remanded in prison.

He added: “He views this as his last chance. It’s strange for a young man of 21 to view a prison sentence of some years as a chance, but he does.”