A PROSTITUTE stole a student’s wallet as he walked home through Coventry’s red light area before she and her partner forced him at knifepoint to a nearby cash machine.
But when their victim spotted a passing police car, he made a break for it to report what had happened.
And a jury rejected Jennifer Morgan’s account that the student had made a false accusation because she had been about to report him for sexually assaulting her.
Morgan (44) and her partner Darren Webb (49) both of Burns Close, Tile Hill, Coventry, were found guilty of attempting to rob the student, which they had denied.
The jury at Warwick Crown Court also convicted Morgan of stealing their victim’s wallet and Webb of possessing a bladed article, a Stanley knife, in Raglan Street, Hillfields.
Prosecutor Tariq Shakoor said that in January last year a Coventry university student was walking home late at night through the red light area of Hillfields.
He said he was approached by Morgan, who was working as a prostitute, and she put her hand into his pocket and took his wallet, which he demanded back.
The student was then faced with a demand for £100 which was reinforced by Webb who joined Morgan and produced a Stanley knife.
The couple ordered the student to go with them to a nearby cashpoint, before he spotted the passing police car.
When they were then arrested, they claimed there had been no knife and no demand for money.
They claimed it was the student who had approached Morgan and had ‘come on’ to her, talking about wanting to ‘do business,’ and had sexually assaulted her by putting his hand up her skirt.
And they asserted that he was making false allegations because she had threatened to report him to the police.
Webb did not give evidence during the trial, but Morgan said she had been beaten a couple of weeks previously, so Webb had gone out with her.
Asked whether he was there to look after her, she said: “He wouldn’t be looking after me, but he was there seeing if I was in harm. If it wasn’t for him, I don’t think I’d have been able to go back out.”
She pointed out that he would not be present when she went off with a client.
Morgan said she had made £40 that night, and used some of it to buy phone credit, to put some credit on their electricity payment card, and to buy a £5 deal of heroin which she had taken.
The jury took just over two hours to find Morgan and Webb guilty by unanimous verdicts.
Recorder Nicholas Syfret QC adjourned the case for pre-sentence reports to be prepared on them, and they were both granted bail.
He explained to the jury: “You will appreciate that both of them have long histories of drug use, and Jennifer Morgan a history of prostitution for most of her life.
“The court has to think carefully about what is the appropriate punishment.”
