A thief who kept stealing from people has been caught and sent to jail for more than nine years. The police watched CCTV footage and found out that the thief was a 46-year-old man named Simon Youngsam. He was responsible for two robberies and one burglary in the Erdington area.
First, on January 22, 2020, Youngsam broke into a house on Wood End Road and took an iPad and a mobile phone. Then, a week later, he targeted a man with autism near Reservoir Road. He forced the man to go to an ATM and withdraw money, and then snatched his headphones and mobile phone before running away.
The police used the CCTV footage to identify Youngsam as the main suspect. They arrested him, charged him with the crimes, and took him to court. While he was waiting for his trial, he committed another crime. In October 2021, he grabbed a woman’s bag on Slade Road. The woman was scared because she thought he had a weapon.
Youngsam denied doing these things, but the evidence was strong, and he was found guilty in two separate trials. As a result, he was sentenced to nine-and-a-half years in jail at Birmingham Crown Court on July 26.
PC Alan Reeves, who is part of the police team, said, “This thief targeted vulnerable people in our community to benefit himself. His actions caused a lot of suffering to his victims, who are still dealing with the consequences of what he did. Now, he is paying for his crimes by losing his freedom for a long time.”
The police want to make sure that the community is safe from such criminals. They know how much robbery and burglary hurt people emotionally and financially. By catching and punishing offenders like Simon Youngsam, they hope to prevent others from doing similar things.
With Youngsam behind bars, the people of Erdington can feel relieved, knowing that justice has been served, and their community is now safer.
