An alcoholic has been jailed for robbing a homeless man of his mobile phone, £5 and pizza.
Christopher Moorhouse, 24, drunkenly assaulted Andrew Grundy on St Patrick’s Day before stealing the items, Leeds Crown Court heard.
Both men were staying in the Clare House homeless hostel in Huddersfield.
Heather Gilmore, prosecuting, said that around 9.30pm Moorhouse entered the hostel’s reception area and started shouting at staff and 50 minutes later he approached Mr Grundy in the street.
She said that Moorhouse punched him, knocking him to the ground, before hitting him again and when he got up he demanded his phone, money and pizza.
The victim handed over his phone and a £5 note and Moorhouse took the pizza he was holding and walked away.
Mr Grundy returned to the hostel and staff described him as “scared and in shock.”
Police were called at 10.24pm and Moorhouse was arrested when he returned to the hostel at 12.30am.
He was captured on CCTV holding £5 cash and with the pizza tucked under his arm.
Moorhouse, who has previous convictions for robberies carried out as a juvenile, pleaded guilty to one count of robbery.
Adam Birkby, mitigating, said his client’s mother was in a car accident when he and his sister were younger which resulted in brain damage.
The barrister said that the siblings then lived with their father, both becoming drug and alcohol addicts, before his sister took her own life aged 15.
Irishman Moorhouse found his father dead in the family home last July and later discovered his father’s girlfriend dead due to alcohol intoxication.
Mr Birkby said: “He came to the UK for a fresh start to get away from poor memories and bad influences.”
Judge Geoffrey Marson QC said he took Moorhouse’s “tragic past” into account and sentenced him to two years’ imprisonment.
