Robber: "Men I met on gay chatlines were easy targets" (From This Is Local London)

Robber: "Men I met on gay chatlines were easy targets"

2:55pm Thursday 5th November 2009 in

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A DRUG addict who robbed gay men he met via gay chatlines in order to feed his habit has today been jailed for six years.

Adil Zahid, 27, of Walthamstow, confessed to targeting gay men because he believed they would make easy targets.

Zahid said his motives were strategic rather than homophobic in nature.

He pleaded guilty to four counts of robbery and one count of handling a stolen vehicle at Wood Green Crown Court, in Lordship Lane.

The offences took place between June and August 2009 in Ida Road, Adam Road and Higham Road, all in Tottenham, and another in Woodford Green, east London.

On one occasion, Zahid armed with a knife, ordered his victim to take him to his home where Zahid scored a laptop, stereo and expensive jewellery.

He also threatened to stab another of his victims if he did not comply. None his victims suffered any injuries during their ordeal.

Zahid, who has a ten-year history of knife point robberies, was handed a six-year indeterminate sentence, of which he must serve three years.

He will only be released when he is no longer considered a risk to the public.

Sentencing Judge Peter Ader said: "You met these men intending them to believe that they were going to form a connection with you. Having gained their confidence...you proceeded to rob them.

"It was a detailed ploy on your part to attract potential victims who had money, having believed they were going on an evening of entertainment, and who might be embarrased to come forward beacuse of the nature of the crime".

He added: "It was minimum risk for maximum return".

In 2002, Zahid was sentenced to six years imprisonment at the Old Bailey for kidnapping and robbery.

With the help of an accomplice, Zahid forced them to withdraw money from cashpoints in Muswell Hill, Crouch and Highgate using a knife to keep them under control.

He told his victims that he had not stabbed anyone in a month thanks to anger management courses, which the court heard he found amusing.

Judge Ader said: "Your case hits the button of exactly what Parliament, in its wisdom, intended when proposing indeterminate sentences. You are a high risk to those you choose as your victims - particularly homosexual men".

He added: "You may not have caused physical harm. But you did cause fear and trauma which we heard from the victim's statements.

"I recognise you are an intelligent man but you should be using your intelligence in different ways. You can spend a large portion of your life in prison and waste it or you could put your intelligence to good use, get a job and earn a living to fund your lifestyle."

Zahid, freshly shaved and wearing a Lacoste tracksuit top, thanked the judge for sparing him a life sentence as he was taken to the cells.