A violent one-legged thug who “lured” a woman to his Northampton home and robbed her at gunpoint to pay off a drugs debt has been jailed for six-and-a-half years.
Amputee Mark Vevers, aged 50, who has tattoos across his face and head, lured a debt collector from an online firm, called ‘LoansAtHome4U’, to his house in Bouverie Walk on January 25, under the pretence he had a “friend” who wanted to take a loan out.
Vevers himself had taken out a £300 loan from the firm, which he was paying off at the rate of £20 a week to the same “credit agent” who visited his house weekly to collect cash.
However, when she tried to leave his house on January 25 after 30 minutes Vevers pulled a gun from underneath his wheelchair. The court heard it was an airgun, which he told police he used to shoot rats.
He then told the victim to wait in his bathroom, a wet room where the victim feared she would be killed and any evidence washed away.
When she refused, Vevers instead took £485 from her collections, before wheeling down to a cashpoint on Wellingborough Road where he withdrew £300 from her account. He was later arrested by armed police at a friend’s house in St James.
The victim, who was in court to see Vevers be sentenced, was “totally and utterly terrified” by the ordeal.
Vevers told police a family member had got a drugs debt and he needed the money to pay it off. He was sentenced to six-and-a-half years in prison today having earlier pleaded guilty to charges of robbery, false imprisonment, having a firearm and theft.
Vevers has a number of previous convictions, including attacking an ex-girlfriend with a Stanley knife.
Sentencing him, Judge Richard Bray said: “You lured the victim into your home, when she was there you produced a gun, you threatened to kill her with it, you demanded that she go into you bathroom.
“The victim must have been absolutely terrified and in fear of immediate death.”
He added: “You were quite prepared to use this woman as a pawn in dealing with your own financial problems.”
Detective Constable Cathy O’Connor said: “I am delighted with the sentence that has been handed down. Although the gun was an imitation firearm, the victim did not know this and she believed that Vevers would kill her during the course of this crime.”