A CONNIVING couple conspired to steal from a man who was left blinded in one eye after being robbed by a third person.

Karla Docherty, 37, and Junior Johnson, 41, had schemed to set up Russell Pipe as he was collecting benefits money for him and Docherty’s mother.

Mr Pipe was brutally assaulted by someone else on Newport’s Marshfield Street during the early hours of February 12 last year after withdrawing £500 from a cashpoint.

The city’s crown court heard how Docherty and Johnson, who were drug users at the time, had no part to play in the robbery.

Prosecutor Joshua Scouller said: “On the night of February 11 and 12, the defendants were in the company of a third person and there was an arrangement reached by these two to steal £500 using the third person to effectively affect it.

“During the course of the theft quite significant injury was caused to Mr Pipe, though of course that is not something attributable to these two.”

Referring to the victim’s impact statement, Mr Scouller said: “His life has been turned upside down and it’s hard for him to try to put into words exactly how he feels.

"Mr Pipe is terrified to leave his house and feels nervous and anxious.

“He says that his daily life has changed immeasurably and says he’s essentially become housebound.”

Docherty and Johnson, both of Mansel Street, Newport pleaded guilty to conspiring to steal.

Co-defendant Perrie Williams, 37, of Corporation Road, Newport was found not guilty of robbery after a trial.

Docherty and Johnson have a previous conviction for shoplifting.

During mitigation Newport Crown Court heard how the couple have four children.

After being arrested in March 2022, Docherty spent seven months in custody while Johnson was in prison for 14 months.

Stephen Thomas, representing Docherty, and Andrew Jones, representing Johnson, said: “There was no contemplation or plan of violence.”

The defendants were now drug free, their barristers said.

Judge Hywel James told the couple: “I've no doubt in part that the motivation was drug use at which at that time he played a significant role in each of your lives.”

Both defendants were jailed for 13 months which means they will have to serve no further time in custody due to time served.