Ipswich robbers branded "cowards" after Cliff Lane robbery

Lee Corani, 40, and Christopher Cullen, 45, were jailed for four years and one month at Ipswich Crown Court on Friday after robbing the victim of £100 and leaving him badly bruised. 

On February 12 this year, three men went to a home in Cliff Lane in the early hours of the morning and banged on the door claiming to be from the police. 

Lee Corani has been jailed for 49 months (Image: Suffolk police)

The intruders smashed their way into the home, before grabbing the victim by the arm and demanding to know where he kept his money.

Corani, of Fitzgerald Court, and Cullen of Silk Street, had both pleaded guilty to a charge of robbery at a previous hearing.

Detective Constable Eilish Currie, of South CID in Ipswich, said: “The crime committed by Corani and Cullen against an elderly man was utterly appalling and heartless. 

Christopher Cullen has been jailed (Image: Suffolk police)

“To choose to subject this man to such a terrifying ordeal in the middle of the night for the sake of a sum of cash is completely inconceivable. Only cowards prey on vulnerable people and that is exactly what these two men are. 

“I hope the sentence given by the court causes both defendants to realise the gravity of the crime they have committed and deters them from committing further offences in the future.”

During Friday's sentencing, Claire Matthews for Corani described the robbery as “utterly despicable”.

She said her client had been addicted to alcohol and drugs but had become clean while in prison.

He had also won several awards while he had been in prison for the work he had done. 

Charles Myatt for Cullen said his client had been under the influence of drink and drugs at the time of the offence and if he had been sober and not on drugs, he wouldn’t have become involved in it.