Would-be carjacker to be sent to hospital

A violent would-be carjacker is facing a hospital order rather than a prison sentence because doctors have diagnosed him as psychotic.
Man to be sent to hospitalMan to be sent to hospital
Man to be sent to hospital

Joshua Robinson, 21, of Wooler Street, Scarborough, has long been a thorn in the side of police and has over 30 previous convictions to his name.

He was due to be sentenced at York Crown Court on Thursday for two counts of attempted robbery.

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At the preliminary hearing in August, Robinson admitted trying to rob a man of his Kia car and the attempted robbery of a woman’s Mitsubishi on the same day.

The case was adjourned for medical reports to confirm Robinson’s “psychosis” and the extent of his condition.

At Thursday’s hearing, Robinson’s barrister Andrew Semple said an initial doctor’s report, which concluded that his client was “psychotic”, had since been corroborated by a second diagnosis by a separate psychiatric consultant.

But Mr Semple called for another adjournment because under UK law the court could not proceed to sentence without a “written assertion” from both consultants confirming Robinson was suffering from psychosis and “schizoaffective disorder”.

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Mr Semple said both consultants believed Robinson was suffering from a mental disorder and recommended a hospital order.

Recorder Tahir Khan QC agreed to adjourn sentence to December 1. Robinson was remanded in jail until then.

Last year he was given a two-year jail sentence for beating up his girlfriend at her home in Filey and biting a police officer as he tried to arrest him.

The former Filey man has a long criminal record for offences including resisting police officers, burglary, robbery, drug offences and criminal damage.