Fleetwood fraudster who stole 500 people's details in hotel burglary is jailed

Marcus Robinson, 25, formerly of North Albert Street, Fleetwood, muttered "for f***'s sake" as Judge Simon Newell imposed a six years and four month jail term, and 12 years and five month road ban for a "cross border campaign" of frauds, thefts and driving offences in Lancashire, Cumbria, and Cheshire.

Preston Crown Court heard he used stolen details to "perpetrate frauds", including using card details to pay for a romantic trip to the Lakes with his co-defendant, a 29-year-old Fleetwood woman.

Prosecuting, David Clarke described how on July 27, 2019, Robinson and his co-defendant committed a string of frauds in Ambleside, Cumbria, using a stolen bank card, on some occasions tweaking the settings on PIN card machines to pay them cashback.

He said: " In the meantime given the number of incidents police had been making urgent enquiries.

"His co-defendant was detained in the couple's room at 11.20pm.

"Robinson was not in the room and she claimed he'd gone out. Police located him on a flat roof, having exited through a window. He threatened to jump so it was necessary for police negotiators to be called. Eventually he cooperated.

"It would appear the value of the property is £1,500 with further consequential losses to the Salutation Hotel of £628."

The court heard when arrested Robinson threatened to bite off the noses of two different officers and to kill a sergeant's mother.

He told them he'd be "sent down for a year max".

In another incident, Robinson embarked on a deadly chase in a car stolen from a worker at News and Booze, Central Drive, Blackpool, on May 1.

He went onto the wrong side of the road at speeds of up to 80mph on roads in the Bolton and Salford area.

On being caught the arrogant criminal taunted officers, telling them: "Where were you lad, we lost you at the roundabout - you're a cr*p driver.

"I had a spliff while you was chasing me."

Robinson had 13 offences taken into consideration, and was also sentenced for a string of frauds in Thornton, and dangerous driving on the M6 in Cheshire in October, when he went down a slip road and onto the northbound carriageway the wrong direction.

Judge Simon Newell called it a " horrendous piece of driving" and added: "Society may not be overly concerned about you, you may not be concerned about yourself, but you could quite easily have killed one or more people, or caused very serious injury."

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