Robbery never felt personal.. until started to receive the phone calls and text messages
COIN DEALER BEATEN IN RAID ON SHOP TELLS HOW THREATENING MESSAGES AFTERWARDS HAVE HAD A LASTING IMPACT ON HIS LIFE
HE courageously stood up to the guntoting robber who targeted his shop.
But coin dealer Graham Donkin was left terrified when he received threatening messages from abroad after his attacker fled the country.
The 45-year-old was subjected to a frightening ordeal at the hands of violent Andrei Deleanu, who targeted his business in North Shields.
After arranging to visit Newcastle Coin Dealers, posing as someone who wanted to sell his collection, Deleanu produced what turned out to be an imitation firearm and threatened to shoot Graham.
Following the terrifying raid, in which the businessman was punched repeatedly as he attempted to protect his livelihood, Deleanu, fled emptyhanded then went on the run for more than two years in Cyprus and Ireland.
The Romanian raider was eventually snared and brought back to the UK to face justice.
But after seeing his attacker locked up, Graham has revealed how threatening calls and messages he received while Deleanu was on the run were more frightening than the raid itself.
The 45-year-old said: “The phone calls and messages arrived a few months later.
“It suggested this was going to go on and on. That hit me quite hard, that was the low point.”
Newcastle Crown Court heard how on the morning of November 4 2017 Deleanu phoned Newcastle Coin Dealers, on Nile Street, saying he had some coins he wanted valued with a view to selling them and asking what time the shop closed.
Having been told it shut at 5pm, he turned up at 4.30pm carrying two suitcases, while Graham was working alone behind the counter.
Deleanu, who gave his name as Mr Smith, then insisted that Graham pull the shop’s shutters down before opening his coat to reveal an imitation firearm concealed in the waistband of his trousers.
Graham dialled 999 and left the line open but was ordered to put the phone down and hand Deleanu the keys, the court was told.
The raider pushed past a display cabinet and Graham tried to use a table leg to defend himself.
Deleanu then produced the gun and pointed it at Graham, threatening to shoot him, said prosecutors.
Graham was then punched repeatedly by the raider who eventually fled the shop empty-handed, leaving behind the gun and his glasses, both of which were later found to have his DNA on them.
Weeks after the attack Graham started to receive disturbing messages out of the blue, along with a threatening phone call.
Police were able to trace the call to the Ukraine, said Graham, but prosecutors said they could not say Deleanu was responsible for any of the communication.
“The gist of it was that I wasn’t going to get away with this, and I didn’t know who I was dealing with, and that I would be looking over my shoulder for the rest of my life,” said Graham.
“When it happened my impression
was his life was robbing, and when it didn’t work out for him he would move on and I would never see him again. It didn’t feel personal.
“But when I got the phone call and the messages it did feel personal and like it wasn’t over.”
Having absconded from the country, Deleanu was picked up on a European arrest warrant in Ireland in March 2020 and was extradited to the UK in September.
The 46-year-old, formerly of Royal Quays, North Shields, but latterly of no fixed address, admitted attempted robbery and possessing an imitation firearm with intent to cause fear of violence.
He was jailed for four years and 10 months.
Graham told The Chronicle that the attack had made him nervous while working alone in his shop.
“It was a traumatic experience. I sometimes get a sense of de-ja-vu if someone leans against the counter or goes into their pocket,” he said.
“That’s where the lasting impact has been.
“I have been closing an hour early to avoid the dark nights. But I think I was lucky to be in a strong mental state at the time and happily married.
“I have upped the security in various small ways. But at the end of the day we want to be a community shop.”
And although Deleanu’s raid appeared to be planned, Graham believed he picked the wrong target.
“He left the country the next day, it was all planned,” he said. “He expected to get a retirement fund out of this.
“He didn’t do his research very well. We don’t have that sort of money.”
Shaun Routledge, defending, told the court that Deleanu, who is married to an American woman having emigrated there from Romania in the 1990s, is likely to be deported after serving his prison sentence.
Mr Routledge said he had previously worked as a computer technician in the US and also as a HGV driver and electrician. He added that he was remorseful, had mental health issues and acted out of character.
Graham says he is now hopeful Deleanu would be rehabilitated in prison and return to his hard-working life.
“I’m not a believer in locking people up and throwing away the key,” he said.
“I would support any measure that would improve his chances of rehabilitation. I’m not bitter, it’s more about prevention.”