Kentish Gazette Canterbury & District
Pair jailed for home raid on millionaire lottery winners
Two men who carried out a raid at the home of millionaire lottery winners have been sent to prison.
Masked pair Gary Westcott and Matthew Poole stormed the house and snatched £55,000 in cash.
The judge told them the victims were “gentle and nice people” who kept money in their home in Faversham in order to help friends and family.
He said it was a “particularly nasty” raid because Westcott had betrayed his family. Judge Martin Huseyin jailed Westcott for four years and six months, and Poole for 32 months. A jury at Maidstone Crown Court cleared them both of the more serious charge of aggravated burglary but guilty of the break-in.
The thieves had posed as pizza delivery drivers before barging their way inside the house in Larksfield Road. Prosecutor Stephen Earnshaw revealed that one of the burglars, Westcott, was a cousin of victim Merissa Smedley. Poole, 34, of Alexandra Road, Sheerness, and Westcott, 40 of Rochdale, had denied aggravated burglary. Poole was also acquitted of possessing a Stanley knife during the attack. Ms Smedley told the court, in a victim impact statement, how the incident had put pressure on her relationship with Wayne Cheeseman.
She said she fears her lover blames her because one of the burglars is a relative. Ms Smedley
revealed she no longer lives in their home or town and may not return. She told the judge how she cries herself to sleep, suffers flashbacks, and wakes screaming.
It was her who had bought the winning £1million scratchcard. Mr Cheeseman told the court it was not unusual to have takeaway delivery drivers knocking at his home looking for his neighbour’s house.
“I saw two people, masked up. As soon as I opened that door I realised what was going to happen,” he said.
“I tried to slam the door but it was too late and they barged in. “The tall one asked ‘Where’s the money?’ really aggressively. “He must have known I had that because no one knew. I said ‘Take it, just take it’. He knew where it was.”
Mr Cheeseman said the raiders took a Samsung Galaxy Note 10, and Miss Smedley’s iphone XR, but left behind gold jewellery and other cash.
The jury were shown footage taken from a door camera which showed men arriving at 8pm on September 15 last year. One of the men shouted: “Pizza... pizza” before the door was opened by Mr Cheeseman. Mr Earnshaw said the couple hadn’t told many people about the win just “relatively close friends and family members” As they fled the scene, Westcott allegedly told the couple: “If you call the Old Bill... you are dead.”
Tom Stern, defending for Poole, said his client had been recruited by Westcott.
The Crown Prosecution Service will now start an investigation into the raiders’ finances in an attempt to recover the cash. As the two were being led away, one man in the public gallery shouted to Westcott: “Love you dad. Don’t worry I’ll sort it”, as others shouted “Snitch” towards Poole.
The court had earlier heard how Poole revealed the background to the crime after being arrested.