ARMED ROBBER MADE THREATS TO FEMALE STAFF AT FOSSE PARK
THUG PULLED OUT POLICE-STYLE BATON AS HE MADE OFF WITH HAUL
A ROBBER who threatened two women shop workers has been jailed for eight years.
Simon Gittens, right, pulled a police-style baton on staff at Footasylum in Fosse Park as he made off with armfuls of clothing.
A BRAZEN robber threatened two women shop workers with a policestyle baton as he made off with an armful of designer clothing.
Simon Gittens also aggressively told an employee in the Footasylum in Leicester’s Fosse Park shopping centre to “shut up” as she used her radio to report him.
He then produced the baton from his waistband, forcing her to let him pass.
With an unknown accomplice, he carried more than £1,000 worth of Tommy Hilfiger garments to a VW T-Roc vehicle - but was followed into the car park by a second woman employee, who courageously confronted them demanding they return the goods.
Katya Saudek, prosecuting, said: “She was also threatened.”
Gittens pulled out the black baton again, held it out towards her, swore and threatened to hit her - before driving away with the haul.
Leicester Crown Court was told that 20 minutes earlier the black T-Roc, belonging to the 47-year-old defendant, entered Old Church Close, in Enderby, where number plates were stolen from a Ford Fiesta.
The plates were put on to Gittens’ car prior to the robbery to disguise his vehicle.
Gittens, a father of three, of Longmeadow Crescent, Birmingham, admitted the robbery, which took place on the afternoon of Sunday, October 25 last year.
He also admitted robbing a pub near Kidderminster the following day.
Miss Saudek said that offence involved Gittens and two unknown accomplices stealing another set of number plates that were transferred to the defendant’s VW.
They went to a store in Kidderminster, but staff were immediately suspicious and the men left emptyhanded.
Less than an hour later the three, wearing masks, burst into the Mare and Colt pub, in nearby Summerfield, brandishing weapons including police batons and what was described as “a Taser or a cattle prod” to threaten “terrified” staff.
They made off with £190 from the till.
The prosecutor said Gittens’ home was later searched and police found a police baton hidden at the bottom of his garden.
A dart firing gun - thought to have been the item mistaken for a Taser or cattle prod during the pub raid - was found hidden under a pillow.
The dart gun was not classed as a firearm and no charge resulted, but the court confiscated it along with the police-style baton and Gittens’ VW T-Roc.
Miss Saudek claimed the offences were “professional planned robberies,” although defence counsel Ioana Nedelou disagreed, saying a witness described the second raid as being “amateurish,” as the men targeted an almost-empty public house on a Monday during the pandemic, when most customers were paying by card so there would be little cash to steal.
The court heard that Gittens’ previous convictions included a 2002 robbery at a convenience store, a 2006 knifepoint robbery of a lone woman at a cashpoint and a 2015 ram-raid shop burglary.
Sentencing, Recorder Michael Auty QC said Gittens posed a risk and the public needed protecting.
He added: “I recognise you haven’t used actual violence but the level of the threat you used was absolutely terrifying for the victims.
“The sadness here is that you have so much to live for - a supportive and loving family.”
Miss Nedelou, mitigating, said that following Gittens’ release from custody in 2018, he found work and kept out of trouble but, due to the pandemic, he lost his job which led to anxiety, drug use and reoffending.
“No knives were involved and he didn’t make physical contact with any of the victims,” she said.
Gittens was jailed for eight years, of which he was told he would serve at least two-thirds, before release.
His parole licence period was extended by an additional four years.