Gang jailed for Co-op robbery
THREE members of a criminal gang who raided Co-op stores in Hall Croft, Shepshed and Stretton and a petrol station in Coventry have been jailed.
Ashley Bell, Marcus Cohen and Connor Sanderson were branded “dangerous” by a judge when they appeared at Warwick Crown Court after they all pleaded guilty to conspiracy to rob after two Co-op stores and a petrol station were raided.
The Shepshed raid at around 6.20am on May 10, 2018, was the third incident, after Cohen had been involved in carrying out surveillance the previous evening, the court was told.
Although Cohen then remained in Hinckley the next day, Bell and two others travelled to Shepshed where, wearing masks and gloves, they forced their way into the store and threatened the female staff members with crowbars before escaping with £2,000.
Mr Hollingsworth pointed out that all the victims have been badly affected by their ordeals, with one of the guards having quit his job and one of the women in Shepshed moving to a different store after working there for 22 years.
Before that on February 22, last year, staff at the Co-op Food Store, in Stretton, were confronted by thugs armed with crowbars and an axe, who then bound with cable ties.
The store manager was taken into an office and ordered to open the safe as the raiders stole £13,000 in cash stamps and other goods from the store before they fled.
The second robbery was at the Texaco garage in Black Prince Avenue, Cheylesmore, in Coventry, on March 6, 2018, as two ‘cash in transit’ guards arrived to restock an ATM machine.
One of the guards who was in the room was hit in the face, breaking his nose and cheekbone, and the other was grabbed as he made his way in with a cash box and was hit to the helmet with the axe before the gang escaped with a total of £76,000.
Ashley Bell, 33, of Crediton Close, Cheylesmore, Coventry, has been jailed for 18 years after the charge and an offence of handling tobacco taken in a burglary at another supermarket.
Marcus Cohen, 39, of Allen Close, Hinckley, was jailed for 17 years for his part in the raid. He also admitted a house burglary.
Connor Sanderson, 21, of Brathay Close, Coventry, was jailed for 10 years and nine months. He also pleaded guilty to handling tobacco taken in a burglary, a house burglary and possessing heroin with intent to supply it.
Also in the dock was Ryan Black, 28, of St George’s Road, Coventry, who pleaded guilty to a burglary charge and was made the subject of an 18-month community order and must complete 80 hours of unpaid work.
Thomas Bruce, 29, of St Columbas Close, Coventry, was also found guilty of the conspiracy to rob offence and will be sentenced at a later date.
Jailing the three men, Judge Potter said he found them all to be dangerous offenders and was therefore passing extended sentences on each of them.
He said: “The conspiracy was put into effect, and each of you was involved to some extent in the robberies which were carried out across the Midlands.
“They were two commercial robberies which had the hallmarks of professionalism in their execution. Weapons, included an axe in two of the robberies, were used, and actual violence was used.”