Street robbers with 'appalling records' attacked woman in 'drugs purchase that went wrong'

Two drug-addicted robbers attacked a woman on a Middlesbrough street in full view of passers-by.

Christopher Ryan, 47, and Tammy McIvor, 38, kicked and punched a woman before pinning her to the ground. They rifled through her pockets, and stole a bank card, two mobile phones and cash.

Teesside Crown Court has heard the two turned on their acquaintance after "what appeared to be a drugs purchase which went wrong" on Gresham Road in central Middlesbrough. Ryan claimed that he gave the victim cash to buy him drugs and that she ripped him off. McIvor told police that the victim had been "giving me dodgy looks and bit my finger."

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The two drug addicts were remanded into custody after the attack on March 20. They both admitted the street robbery. A third woman who was involved in the attack will be sentenced at a later date.

McIvor also pleaded guilty to two counts of the possession of class A drugs - after she was caught with crack cocaine and heroin in her pockets during a police raid in January 2023. McIvor, of Letitia Street in Middlesbrough, has a long criminal record for theft. In 2017, she was jailed for 13-months for robbery. In 2016, she was caught on Google street view, running out of a shop with unpaid items. Ryan, of no fixed address, served prison terms for burglaries in 2005; 2007; and 2021. In 2014, he forced a vulnerable pensioner to the bank and stole his life savings from him.

Barristers representing the pair told the court that they were heavy drug users at the time, but have both got clean in prison. Emma Handley said that McIvor was "...addicted to class A drugs at the age of 14; she was in sex work paying for her addiction by 16. "She is now off drugs completely."

For Ryan, Andrew Turton said that this "appeared to be a drugs purchase which went wrong. He's now off methadone and all drugs. He's struggled with addiction for years."

Judge Nathan Adams told them: "You both have appalling records. You attacked your victim - likely over drugs - and you continued to attack her when she was on the ground."

Ryan and McIvor were jailed for three-years. They will serve 40% of the sentence in custody before being released on licence. The judge told them that they their "release date will not be too far in the future" after the time they have spent on remand is also taken off the sentence.

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