Prisoner carried out armed robbery on Christmas break

A JUDGE has criticised the “slack” monitoring of prisoners released on leave after a “dangerous” criminal committed an armed robbery while he was at home for Christmas.

The prisoner, Mark Rowsell, 42, who had 25 previous convictions for 46 offences, had been allowed out of Standford Hill open prison on the Isle of Sheppey to stay with a girlfriend for four days over the festive period in 2014.

While he was out he persuaded a friend to drive him from South London to the South Lincolnshire village of Kirton, where he held up the local Co-op store at knifepoint in a terrifying raid.

Rowsell got away with £4,000 from the till, then headed straight back to London.

The following day he returned as planned to Standford Hill where he was serving an indeterminate sentence imposed for similar robberies at two Coop stores in Kent.

Rowsell said he had also used his time on previous home visits from prison to manufacture the synthetic cannabis substance Mamba, which he sold on to what was then a “legal highs” shop in Boston. Mamba was at the time a legal substance but has since been made illegal following a change in legislation.

Deputy Judge Michael Stokes QC, passing sentence at Lincoln Crown Court, told Rowsell “It must have been absolutely terrifying for people who were simply at work to have someone burst into the store with a knife, imprison them in an office and force them to open the safe.

“What concerns me is the extremely slack way that the department responsible seems to monitor temporary licence leave.

“You told the jury it enabled you to manufacture synthetic cannabis. It is outrageous. The public don’t expect people who are dangerous to others to be allowed to behave like that while serving an indeterminate sentence of imprisonment for public protection.”

Rowsell was jailed for 12 years and given a four year licence extension. The terms of the sentence mean he will have to serve at least eight years (twothirds) before he can be considered for release and he will remain on licence at risk of being returned to jail until October 2033.