A “remarkable” woman who was robbed at knifepoint by two escaped convicts later pledged her forgiveness and suggested they read a passage in the Bible, a court heard.

Elizabeth West urged Sean Horsley and Shaine Tester to study Chapter 53 of the Book of Isaiah in the New Testament, known the story of a Man of Sorrows or God’s Suffering Servant.

The victim was confronted by the two men - one serving life and the other an indefinite sentence - after they broke out of category C/D Blantyre House in Goudhurst on July 9 last year.

Prosecutor Gary Pons said Horsley, 45, and Tester, 26, where engaged in agricultural activity when they used sheet metal to climb over the perimeter fence.

Mrs West had left her home in Sevenoaks in the morning and was walking towards the train station when she saw them coming towards her.

Tester pointed a knife with a 12in blade towards her and demanded her bag. “She was extremely frightened,” Mr Pons told Maidstone Crown Court.

“I would like to say that despite what he has done I believe there is good in him. I urge him to read Chapter 53 from the Book of Isaiah in the New Testament” - Mrs West

He took her purse which contained £150 the mother was planning to give to her student daughter in London for passing her exams.

Mrs West begged him not to take her phone as it contained photos of her children.

She was impressed that he looked in the bag for the phone to give it to her, said Mr Pons.

Tester walked off with Horsley and they headed towards the station.

Off-duty fireman Aston Gallivan pulled up in his car having seen part of what happened. Mr Gallivan gave a running commentary to the police as he and Mrs West followed them to the station.

Officers waited at Tonbridge station and confronted the two men.

Tester pulled out the home-made knife and pointed it at one officer’s head.

Mr Pons said Horsley confronted another officer with a sawn-off shotgun, which turned out to be an imitation, and Tester urged him: “Shoot him - just shoot him.”

They were arrested after they were warned they would be Tasered.

Mr Pons said most of the stolen items were recovered, although the robbers had used some of the cash to buy train tickets.

“I have little doubt that those who read about this in the local paper will be absolutely appalled that someone is held up by two escaped convicts and are fearful of repetition, yet here we have this extraordinary juxtaposition of a lady saying she is willing to forgive these two men” - Judge Jeremy Carey

He said of Mrs West: “This was a terrifying experience for her. In her statement she expressed her appreciation for Mr Tester finding her phone. She commended the degree of humanity he showed.

“She said she is willing to forgive them for everything that happened. She referred to a chapter in the Old Testament.”

She said of Tester: “I would like to say that despite what he has done I believe there is good in him. I urge him to read Chapter 53 from the Book of Isaiah in the New Testament.”

Mr Pons added: “It is quite simply remarkable.”

Horsley and Tester, both of no fixed address, admitted escape, robbery, having a bladed article, possessing an imitation firearm and possessing it with intent to cause fear of violence.

Horsley was jailed for six years and nine months and Tester for six years and three months.

Horsley had 10 convictions for 24 offences. He was jailed for life, with a minimum tariff of four years and 10 months but has served more, in 2002 for two offences of robbery and two of possessing a firearm with intent.

He had been jailed for seven years in 1991 for robbery and eight years in 1996 for robbery.

Tester was given imprisonment for public protection in June 2006 for attempted robbery and escape.

Judge Jeremy Carey said: “I have little doubt that those who read about this in the local paper will be absolutely appalled that someone is held up by two escaped convicts and are fearful of repetition, yet here we have this extraordinary juxtaposition of a lady saying she is willing to forgive these two men.”

Describing the offences as “grave”, the judge said Mrs West “acted at all times with remarkable presence of mind”, adding: “She kept her cool and is commended by this court for so doing.

He told Tester: “You took her bags and the only ray of light in this otherwise wholly depressing and very serious incident is, at her request, you did endeavour to find her phone and give it back to her.

“She, unlike the overwhelming majority of members of the public, says she is prepared to forgive this grave criminal act.”

Judge Carey said the imitation firearm Horsley had “fashioned” would strike terror in anybody confronted by it.

He added that both men had now put back by many years a chance of parole.

DC Gabriel Chandler from Kent Police said: "Within a short space of time Horsley and Tester committed a number of very serious offences, which would inevitably see them returned to prison for a long time.

“It is not to his credit that he found a quite remarkable and extraordinary woman who wrote to the court. He has shown he has a good side to him. He did try to do the decent thing” - Andrew Lewis, for Tester

"The offences were aggravated by the possession of a device that had been made to give the appearance of being a firearm.

"Their freedom was very short-lived as they were quickly arrested and returned to custody, where they will now remain for some considerable time."

Andrew Lewis, for Tester, said as in the testament of Mrs West, there was good and bad in his client.

He had been in custody since 2005 when he was aged 17. “He was terrified of being out in the community,” said Mr Lewis.

“It is not to his credit that he found a quite remarkable and extraordinary woman who wrote to the court. He has shown he has a good side to him. He did try to do the decent thing.”

Christopher Sutton-Mattocks, for Horsley, said despite being given a minimum tariff of four years and 10 months, the former heroin addict had served much longer.

There was a feeling of hopelessness that he would not be released.

“He will have to live with this for many years,” said Mr Sutton-Mattocks.

He added: “Mrs West’s document speaks much more for her than it does for these defendants. She has dealt with it in an extraordinary fashion.

“He knows it will be some years away before he can start the process of leaving prison. He has to start again.”