[Mrluvaluva]

Lingerie-stealing elf jailed
Friday, May 18, 2007

A lab technician who dressed as a female elf to steal lingerie at knifepoint was jailed for two years today.

Robert Boyd, 45, donned a blonde Harpo Marx wig, glasses and a beanie hat to hold up a female staff member at a lingerie store in Belfast.

He claimed to have involved in a futuristic fantasy role-playing game at the time of the robbery in December 2005.

But although a defence lawyer pleaded for leniency by telling how Boyd was now a figure of ridicule whose life was in tatters, Judge Patrick Lynch insisted he had to be imprisoned.

He also sentenced the father-of-one to a further two years' probation after his release.

As Boyd sat impassive in the dock at Belfast Crown Court, Judge Lynch told him: 'Whatever I do to you today you will have to live with the consequences of your actions for the rest of your life.'

Boyd was convicted in March by a 10-2 majority verdict after claiming during his trial that he had blurred the lines between reality and make-believe as he assumed a character called Buho.

This was a shaman, or magical elf, who carried a small Japanese sword as a weapon in the Shadowrun game, the court was told.

He was found guilty of stealing two sets of bras, knickers, suspender belts and stockings worth £250 from Orchid Lingerie.

He had claimed to have been facing pressures at work and within his marriage when he threatened the woman after haggling for a discount.

Before sentence was passed today a lawyer for Boyd, of Broadlands, Carrickfergus, Co Antrim, revealed he has since lost his job at Queen's University Belfast.

Anthony Cinnamond, QC, also stressed that he had been carrying £400 in cash when he went into the shop to buy lingerie as his wife's Christmas present.

The lawyer said: 'It's most unlikely that Mr Boyd carried out this robbery for financial gain.

'It's much more likely on the basis of medical evidence that his motivation came from some twisted thoughts in the darker recess of his mind, perhaps because of his involvement in the role-playing Shadowrun game.'

Mr Cinnamond told how his client had been suffering from depression at the time, referring to the sexual abuse he said Boyd had suffered as a teenager.

His state of mind had also been affected by the discovery, just months earlier, that one of his relatives had also been subjected to similar abuse, the lawyer said.