The victim of a terrifying robbery, where he was threatened with a fork and a ballpoint pen, allowed his aggressors to take his PlayStation - saying "it was not worth dying over".
Nottingham Crown Court was told how the man, who lived alone, was the victim of the raid at the hands of two men who lived in a flat nearby.
One was Lee Thompson, 26, who wrongly believed that his neighbour, who had a form of autism, had his bank card and it had been delivered by mistake to his home.
The man was to later say in police interview the value of the PS3 and games was not important - and that it was the sentimental value which mattered to him, with the PS3 the only thing that gave him joy.
"After they left, he cried himself to sleep," said Lisa Hardy, prosecuting, on Thursday, February 10.
He later turned his flat into "Fort Knox" to make sure they could not get in again.
Thompson, described in court by Judge Steven Coupland as the "ringleader" in the attack, was jailed for five years and three months for robbery, six weeks concurrently for a separate burglary and one month consecutively for a bail act offence.
The judge said Thompson was not prepared to leave the vulnerable man alone and returned more than once.
"It would have been plain to you he didn't have very much," he added.
What happened?
The violence began on October 22, 2020, when he turned up with co-accused Lewis McCulloch, who lived in the same flat as Thompson at the time in Worksop.
Thompson said he was going to smash the victim's head in if he did not give him his bank card.
The men left but returned, with Thompson holding a bottle of Vodka, and 22-year-old McCullock, of Northwood, Worksop, clutching a can of Strongbow.
With both of them "absolutely stinking of beer", according to the petrified victim, he had suggested they go back to the Post Office because he did not have the card.
But the men returned for a third time at 3am - the two men advancing on him where they scooped up his cash from a counter.
Thompson's eyes lit up when he saw the victim's PlayStation 3 and he was heard to say, "wow, a PS3, I'm having that, mate".
The victim was forced into a chair where Thompson, now of Wilton Street, Townhead, Coatbridge, and more recently in HMP Nottingham, pressed the kitchen fork to his throat.
Then he picked up the ballpoint pen and pressed it against his temple with enough force to hurt him.
"McCulloch looked around his flat asking where his gold was, " said Mrs Hardy.
They left with vodka from his fridge but they returned again in hoods and masks two days later, kicking his door, and leaving the man so scared he called police hidden behind his boiler room door.
By the time they were arrested, they had smashed their way into a local bakers and helped themselves to trays of food.
Mitigating, Stuart Lody said Thompson, who pleaded guilty to all charges, regretted his actions.
* McCulloch was sentenced separately for having a lesser role to the robbery and separate burglary and his sentence was three years after he pleaded guilty.
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