Terror twins who caused “misery” to the people of Scarborough spared jail

Amy and Beth Pugh, 22, brought chaos and ugly violence to the One Stop Shop on North Marine Road.

York Crown Court heard that the female shopkeeper heard a commotion outside the convenience store where Beth Pugh was shouting near the front doors.

Prosecutor Matthew Moore-Taylor said the shopkeeper recognised Pugh as she had previously banned her from the shop.

She asked Pugh to leave and an argument ensued, but then noticed that her sister Amy Pugh, who had also been banned from the shop, was inside the store.

When she asked her to leave, Pugh told the shopkeeper: “If I’m banned you need to show me some CCTV. You are stupid and you need some heroin.”

Both sisters then turned their ire on the shopkeeper who was so intimidated she called police.

As she waited for officers to arrive, the shopkeeper was punched twice to the face by Amy Pugh, knocking the victim into some shelves which caused a fractured rib.

Two officers arrived, at which point Amy Pugh punched one of them in the head as they tried to escort her sister out of the shop.

She was duly arrested and bailed.

Mr Moore-Taylor said the shopkeeper had breathing difficulties after suffering a closed fracture to her ribs.

“There was concern that one of her lungs may have collapsed or (was) at risk of doing so,” he added.

“She was weary, scared and apprehensive of returning to work.”

In August, six months after Amy Pugh was bailed for the shop incident, her neighbour was asleep at his flat in Scarborough when he was woken by banging on a door in the hallway.

The banging was on Pugh’s door and he heard her sister Beth shouting her name.

The neighbour, who was named in court, told her to be quiet, but then he heard banging on his own door.

He opened it and told Beth Pugh to stop, at which point she punched him in the stomach.

He told her he would call police, only for Pugh to punch him again “four to five times”.

Police were called out and arrested Beth Pugh who was also released on bail and promptly went back to her sister’s flat where she started banging on the door again.

Pugh, this time joined by her sister Amy and “others”, began shouting and Amy Pugh started banging and kicking at the same neighbour’s door.

The sisters shouted racial insults at the victim, who is of Caribbean descent, and Amy Pugh told him to “go back to London - you will never win”.

Amy Pugh then struck the door with an object, causing a window to smash.

The terrible twins were arrested once again and charged with a raft of offences, most of which were committed on bail.

Amy Pugh, of Friars Way, Scarborough, admitted assault occasioning actual bodily harm, assaulting a police officer, witness intimidation, criminal damage and using violence to try to secure entry to her neighbour’s flat.

She also admitted causing her neighbour fear of violence which was racially aggravated.

Beth Pugh, now living in York, admitted common assault, witness intimidation, using violence to secure entry to premises and racially aggravated fear of violence.

They appeared for sentence via video link today (Friday, October 28) after being remanded in custody.

The court heard that Amy Pugh had 19 previous convictions for 41 offences including burglary, battery, damaging property, public disorder, shoplifting, carrying a blade, fraud and making hoax calls to the emergency services.

Beth Pugh had seven previous convictions and, like her sister, had been dealt with by community disposals and drug and alcohol treatment programmes, but to no avail.

In a victim statement read out in court, Amy Pugh’s beleaguered neighbour said that every time he heard someone outside his flat, he felt that “something could happen” and he feared that with his

mobility problems he wouldn’t be able to escape.

He said he felt “nervous and anxious” whenever he ventured out of his apartment.

Defence barrister Nick Peacock, representing both twins, said the two sisters “did everything together and clearly have had a difficult upbringing and clearly suffer somewhat with mental-health issues”.

“There is clearly drug-taking,” he added. “The girls take different drugs.”

Recorder Simon Jackson said that despite the shocking nature of the offences and the twins’ “appalling catalogue of (previous) offending”, he had been persuaded to give them “one last chance” to avoid jail because of their mental-health issues and the steps they had taken to try to kick drugs and alcohol since being remanded in custody in August.

“Until (defence barrister Mr Peacock’s intervention), I had decided that the people of Scarborough deserved to be protected from two young thugs (who had been) making their lives a misery,” he added.

Beth Pugh was given an 18-month prison sentence suspended for two years. Amy Pugh, of York Road, Acomb, received a 15-month suspended jail term.

Both twins were ordered to complete 35 days of rehabilitation activity and a nine-month drug-rehabilitation programme and they were each slapped with a five-year restraining order banning them from contacting Amy Pugh’s neighbour.