Sidley shop robbers jailed
TWO men who carried out an armed robbery at the Best One shop in Ninfield Road, Sidley, on December 6 last year have been jailed.
The pair also pleaded guilty to two armed robberies in the Thames Valley along with a number of other offences when they appeared at Lewes Crown Court.
Alexander Clarke, 32, of The Street, Ipsden, Wallingford, Oxfordshire, and Kieran McKenna, 34, of St George’s Green, Wallingford, both admitted a string of charges. Clarke was sentenced to five years’ imprisonment and McKenna to three.
The incident at Best One in Sidley took place at around 3.10pm on Thursday, December 6 last year. Clarke went into the corner shop and threatened the cashier with a crow bar.
Both the member of staff and two female customers who were in the shop valiantly tried to stop Clarke, but he snatched around £100 from the till and fled. He jumped into a car driven by his accomplice, McKenna, and they sped off.
But at around 8.45pm the same day, police in Surrey stopped as suspicious red Vauxhall Astra being driven on the M23 motorway, having been alerted toi the robbery by Sussex Police.
It led to Clarke and McKenna being arrested in connection with the incident and others in the Thames Valley.
Both men were charged with three armed robbery at Sidley and two others carried out just days before at the Rowstock service station in Oxfordshire and the Hermitage Post Office in Berkshire.
As well as three counts of robbery admitted by both men, they each also pleaded guilty to theft of a car. Clarke further pleaded guilty to three counts of having an offensive weapon, namely a crow bar, used in the robberies and possessing an offensive weapon in a public place.
A further charge admitted by McKenna was making off without payment from a service station in Oxfordshire in August last year.
Email to a friend
Print this page
Looking for...
Featured advertisers
Jobs
Search for a job
Motors
Search for a car
Property
Search for a house
Weather for Bexhill-on-Sea
Monday 20 May 2013
Today
Light rain
Temperature: 12 C to 16 C
Wind Speed: 14 mph
Wind direction: North
Tomorrow
Cloudy
Temperature: 7 C to 16 C
Wind Speed: 16 mph
Wind direction: North
