Gang jailed after violent robbery of pub takings

A pub manager and the criminal gang of three he gave inside information to for a violent £77,000 robbery have been jailed for a total of 24 years and seven months.

Aidan Kelly, 30, who worked at the Biddy Mulligans pub in Edinburgh’s Grassmarket as deputy general manager, gave the gang details about when to strike to steal the weekend takings.

Pub worker Eric Drought was later ambushed by Steven Batten, 25, Jordan Craig, 26, Dale Thomson, 26, and an unknown associate as he went to deposit cash in the early hours of 25 August last year at the RBS branch in St Andrew Square, Edinburgh.

They raced out of a car and punched him twice and then threatened him with a baseball bat. The gang made off with £77,275.95; only £8,875.11 was recovered.

Judge Lord Matthews said: “There is no doubt this was thought out and prepared in advance. You arranged for a safe house and used false plates on a vehicle.

“What you did Aidan Kelly was a gross breach of trust, which caused substantial loss to your employers and put a colleague at risk.”

Lord Matthews jailed Kelly for five years and ten months, Craig to six years and nine months and Batten and Thomson to six years each. He praised what he described as “painstaking police work’ which led to their swift apprehension.