Psychotic jewel raider pointed gun at worker

Parade, Halifax, had grabbed one of the staff by her hair before he and Cochrane smashed display cabinets in the shop and fled with stock worth about £3,800.

The pair left the scene in a car which was found abandoned, and two days later they were both involved with Cochrane’s brother Richard in a ram-raid robbery at the Neimantas Jewellers in Brighouse (inset).

The court heard that William Cochrane reversed a black Jaguar car into one of the windows of the shop just as it closing for business on June 30.

Lister and Richard Cochrane grabbed thousands of pounds worth of watches and silver jewellery from the display before the car was driven off and dumped. It was estimated that stock worth about £20,000 had been stolen during that robbery with damage to the shop put at about £10,000. Lister, who had previously served a threeyear prison sentence for wounding with intent, pleaded guilty last November to robbing both of the women at Kingston Jewellers and possessing an imitation firearm at the time. Lister, who also admitted his role in the robbery at the Neimantas premises, was jailed for six years and nine months for the armed robbery in Halifax with a concurrent sentence of our-and-a-half years for the Brighouse ram-raid. Barrister Adrian Farrow, for Lister, said he had gone along with the suggestion that he could clear his debts by committing the offences and he had expressed deep remorse for his crimes.

Jailing Lister, Judge Colin Burn said the fact that he hadn’t taken his medication simply added to the “terror” suffered by the staff.

Judge Burn said Lister’s guilty pleas to all the offences were the only thing that saved him from a very long sentence.

“You were targeting, as far as high shops go, perhaps the most valuable goods that could be targeted, namely goods in jewellery shops,” said Judge Burn.

William Cochrane, 39, and his brother Richard, 37, both of West Parade, Halifax, will be sentenced for their roles in the two robberies at a date to be fixed.