Procurement News Notice |
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| PNN | 186 |
| Work Detail | A masked robber who left restaurant staff after holding them up at gun and knife point has been jailed for almost ten years. Oliver Leggatt had a vendetta against Beefeater restaurants after he was sacked from a job and planned a series of raids in which he wore a clown mask, a scarf and a cloth across his face. He was featured on Crimewatch after being caught on CCTV during his first raid at Newton Abbot racecourse but only caught almost a year later when he had carried out two more raids in Paignton. He bullied his girlfriend and a waitress at one of the restaurants to helping him by driving him to the raids or providing him with details of staff rotas so he could choose when to raid. In the third raid at the Whiterock Beefeater in Paignton he was caught on CCTV as he held a realistic looking imitation pistol to the head of manager Sheree Thomas and forced her to open the safe. He then pinned her to the ground and bound her hands with cable ties before leaving her helpless and alone in an office. She only escaped by using her tongue to dial 999. Leggatt was caught because he used to work at the Paignton restaurant and Ms Thomas recognised his voice. Police gave him bail while they waited for forensic evidence and he and his younger brother William went on to swindle his own grandparents out of £65,000 in an internet banking scam, Exeter Crown Court was told. Leggatt, aged 23, formerly of Blackawton, near Dartmouth, Devon, admitted two robberies, an attempted robbery, possessing a knife and an imitation firearm, four frauds and two offences of transferring the proceeds of fraud. Accomplice and former lover Natalie Shaw, aged 32, of Barnfield Park, Paignton, admitted burglary and was jailed for 18 months, suspended for two years with 120 hours unpaid community work. William Leggatt, aged 21, of New Charlton Way, Bristol, admitted fraud and money laundering and was jailed for 21 months at an earlier hearing. Leggatt was jailed for a total of nine years and nine months by Recorder Mr Philip Mott, QC, who told him:"This was a catalogue of attacks carried out as a vendetta against Beefeater. "You were a former employee and put employees in fear. You threatened them and their families and took more than £9,000 cash. "These were a less sophisticated set of robberies but as time went on the element of planning became greater and the last, in which you used an imitation firearm and bought cable ties, involved far more planning and comes closer to being a commercial robbery. "There are aggravating features in terms of planning, the fact there were a series of offences and you took steps to conceal your identity, and you exploited others." Mr Peter Coombe, prosecuting, said Leggatt had a grudge against the Beefeater chain after losing his job at the Paignton branch and failing in a legal action against the company. He said:"He began a plot to rob the company's restaurants and his first attempt to strike back was the attempted robbery at Newton Abbot where he arrived wearing a clown mask and carrying a large kitchen knife." He showed CCTV from the raid on May 26, 2014 of Leggatt threatening employees Emma Lee and Louise Hayman before fleeing empty handed after they told him they had no access to cash. Police later found the gloves he wore in his attic and traced the purchase of the clown mask to an internet transaction four days before the raid. They found a text to his brother saying he had 'f***ed up big time'. He went on to send the Crimewatch footage to his brother with a message saying 'watch this'. The next raid was at Paignton in December 2014 where he attacked manager Ryan Evans as he was alone and closing up the restaurant. He wore a bandana across his face and a hood and stole £4,885. The last raid was on April 13, 2015 when he hid under a stairway and came out when he knew that bar manager Ms Thomas would be alone as she locked up. He hated Ms Thomas because of an old argument and subjected her to a terrifying ordeal in which he thrust a gun in her face and left her tied up. He fled with £4,491. Mr Paul Dentith, defending, said Leggatt's robberies were not sophisticated or well planned commercial offences and should not be treated as the worst sort of armed raids. He said the only injury had been suffered by Ms Thomas, who had suffered numbness in her hands and anxiety after her ordeal. Mr Lee Bremridge, for Shaw, said she had been in a brief relationship with him at a difficult time in her life when they were both working at the restaurant. She had initially supplied Leggatt with staff rotas as a favour but was under pressure from him and vulnerable because of issues of her own. |
| Country | United Kingdom , Northern Europe |
| Industry | GRC |
| Entry Date | 02 Sep 2016 |
| Source | http://www.exeterexpressandecho.co.uk/masked-robber-featured-on-crimewatch-who-targeted-beefeater-restaurants-jailed-for-almost-10-years/story-29660555-detail/story.html |
