By Dave Gudgeon

Last updated at 12:44, Tuesday, 05 August 2008

THE victim of a knifepoint robbery has urged fellow Carlisle guest house owners to be vigilant when they book people in.

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Anita Martin, who runs The Warren on Warwick Road, was pushed into a cupboard and threatened with a steak knife by a man who stole cash and jewellery from her.

The career criminal responsible, David Campbell, was jailed for eight years last week after Mrs Martin told a judge at the city’s crown court what happened that fateful day.

She was forced to relive her ordeal because, although the 43-year-old Scot with more than 100 previous convictions admitted the robbery, he claimed that he never had a knife.

Mrs Martin told the News & Star: “I had a funny feeling about him when he booked in that day. The phone number he put on the registration card was different to one he used to ring me earlier.

“I’m wary about letting single men into my guest house now – but if anything suspicious like that happened again I would call the police. And I would urge my colleagues to do the same.”

Mrs Martin was overwhelmed by the support she received from fellow guest house owners – and bosses at Tesco – following the horrific incident last winter.

She said: “I received a whole series of cards and flowers – even some from Tesco where I shop every day. It was incredible how people rallied round.”

Mrs Martin, who gave evidence from behind a screen, told the court that Campbell booked into her premises on January 24 using a false name and telephone number.

He arrived at about 11am when other guests were at work and her husband was away in London. She set off after lunch to go to the hairdressers and a supermarket.

She returned to find Campbell at the front door asking her for help with his room key. She left her shopping at the back door and went upstairs to help him.

Campbell then pushed her into a cupboard and locked the door.

He went downstairs and took bank cards from her shoulder bag. When he came back and opened the cupboard he had a steak knife with him. She did not know if it was one of hers. She told the court: “He said ‘Give me the pin numbers or I’ll stab you’.

“He said he would cut my wrists and set fire to the guest house. I gave him the wrong pin numbers. I thought he would kill me.”

Mrs Martin, who is 5ft, was later able to break out of the cupboard by smashing some plaster, cutting her hands in the process, and raise the alarm.

She said: “I used a poker to smash a hole in the door near to where the key would be – but it wasn’t there. I then smashed a hole in the plaster above the door. I didn’t know when anyone would be home.

“I used a ladder to climb the inside of the cupboard but it was very difficult lifting myself through the hole and dropping head first on to the floor. I cut my hands and my jeans caught on a nail.”

She said Campbell took three rings which were of sentimental value and some cash after kicking through a door and entering the private living area.

Judge Barbara Forrester said there were several aggravating factors in the case which was almost identical to a robbery that Campbell committed in Gretna just two years ago.

She said Campbell had carried a weapon and threatened Mrs Martin with it and had incarcerated her in her own home. There was also an element of pre-planning to the robbery, with the use of a false name. He had also selected a vulnerable target – a woman who was home alone.

The court heard that during that robbery at a bed and breakfast, Campbell had locked a woman in a toilet and barricaded her in.

First published at 11:45, Tuesday, 05 August 2008
Published by http://www.newsandstar.co.uk