THE VICTIM WAS WALKING HOME FOLLOWING A NIGHT OUT ON SWANSEA'S WIND STREET WHEN HE WAS FOLLOWED AND ATTACKED BY THE DEFENDANTS 17:00, 30 May 2025Updated 18:52, 31 May 2025 A judge

expressed his frustration with two men who mugged a drunk student walking home after a night out in Swansea city centre, telling them their actions had been "disgraceful". Scott

Simmonds and Kieron Gordon pinned their victim to the floor and went through his pockets then used the bank card they stole to buy booze. A judge at Swansea Crown Court said the facts of the

case were "disturbing" with a student "doing what students do" at university being set upon by two grown and drunken men in the dead of night. He told the defendants:

this year socialising with friends in bars in Swansea's Wind Street. He said at around 3.45am the student set off for home via Oxford Street but at some point on his journey the

defendants saw him and began to follow him. The court heard that as the victim passed the Builder's Arms pub on Lower Oxford Street he was approached by the defendants - Simmonds

briefly spoke to the student before punching him and the victim was then pinned face-down on the ground while the defendants rifled through his pockets looking for items to steal. The

prosecutor said one of the attackers - it is not known who - told their victim: "Don't fight back, mate". The court heard that the assailants then made off from the scene and

a short time later used the victim's bank card in a Nisa shop on nearby St Helen's Road to buy £79-worth of alcohol. Further attempts to use the card for purchases totalling £150

were declined. The matter was reported to police and Gordon and Simmonds were identified and arrested on March 18. _For the latest court reports sign up to our crime newsletter_ Scott

Simmonds, aged 36, of no fixed abode, and 24-year-old Kieron Gordon, of Dyfed Avenue, Townhill, Swansea, had both previously pleaded guilty to robbery and to fraud - the use of the stolen

bank card - when they appeared in the dock for sentencing. Simmonds has previous convictions for 93 offences and was on licence at the time of the robbery following a sentence of 12 weeks

custody imposed by magistrates in Swansea on January 21 this year for shoplifting from a Co-op store. Gordon has no previous convictions. Dan Griffiths, for Simmonds, said his client was

"nothing if not wholly realistic" about the position he finds himself in. He said alcoholism had blighted much of the defendant's adult life and that almost all of

Simmons' previous offending was liked to it, but he said while being held on remand his client had reflected on his life and was "determined to make positive and permanent

changes". The advocate invited the court to find that remorse Simmonds had expressed in his letter to the court was genuine. Ian Ibrahim, for Gordon, said his client had been brought up

by his sisters from the age of nine but had gone on to do well at school in Birchgrove, achieving eight GCSEs and subsequently finding employment including working as a delivery driver for

a number of years. He said he asked his client in their conference why he did what he did on the night in question, and the defendant had replied "I was drunk". The barrister said

that Gordon wanted to apologise for what happened and said that remorse runs through the letter he had penned to the court "like a golden thread". Judge Geraint Walters said the

facts of the case were "disturbing" with a student "doing what students do" at university being set upon by two grown and drunken men in the dead of night. He said:

"What an advert for the city of Swansea and those seeking to be educated here. 'Come to our city, go out to do what students do, but you run the risk of being mugged by two

men'. It is disgraceful. Anyone reading about this in the press would be sickened by hearing it... One must wonder what that man was thinking the morning after, and for how long he

wondered whether coming to Swansea was a good idea." The judge noted Gordon had no previous convictions but had "graduated" straight to the serious offence of robbery while

Simmonds had been "thorough nuisance" for many years though did not have any offences as serious as robbery on his record. He said he had read well-written letters from both

defendants and said it was clear they were educated men, telling them: "What a waste of lives". Article continues below Judge Walters said the fact both defendants were drunk was

an aggravating factor in the case, and said Simmonds' position was further aggravated by his antecedent record and the fact he was on licence at the time. With a one-third discount for

his guilty pleas Simmonds was sentenced to 40 months in prison, and with a one-quarter discount for his guilty pleas - which were entered at a later stage in the court process that his

co-defendant - Gordon was sentenced to 30 months. The judge said defendants typically serve up to half their sentences in custody before being released on licence but said the current

release arrangements were a matter for politicians and the Home Office and he was unable to say how long each man would serve.