Six Men Face Trial Over Argyll Arcade Robbery

Six men are to stand trial later this year for allegedly robbing the Argyll Arcade in Glasgow of hundreds of thousands of pounds worth of watches. Alistair Oliver, 30, Gordon McLay, 31, Jason Yendall, 29, Aaron Brannan, 24, Jason Britton, 23 and Jack Turner, 21, are accused of stealing £229,601 of watches from Rox at the arcade in September last year. All six accused appeared in the dock at the High Court in Glasgow for a pre-trial hearing. Judge Lord Turnbull fixed a trial for October this year. The men are accused of having their faces masked at the time and of carrying a baseball bat, sledge hammer, pick axe handle and axes or similar implements and smashing a door at the shop. It is claimed they put members of staff at Rox in "a state of fear and alarm for their safety" and robbed them of watches. The six men are also charged with assaulting a security guard and hitting him on the body with a baseball bat or similar implement and knocking him to the ground to his injury. And, with putting employees at the jewellers Laing, Lewis Grant and Mappin & Webb "in a state of fear and alarm for their safety" and attempting to rob them on September 24, last year. It is claimed that at an area of land in Musselburgh, being aware of the crimes they committed and to "avoid detection, arrest and prosecution" they burned clothing they had worn while carrying out their crimes. It is alleged this was an attempt to pervert the course of justice. Oliver, McLay, Yendall, Brannan and Britton are accused of robbing employees of the Royal Bank of Scotland on Home Street, Edinburgh of £19,675 on October 2, 2014. The men are alleged to have gone with their faces masked and carrying a machete and axes or similar implements and assaulting Kelly Rinaldi and Ross McMullen. It is claimed they brandished the items at them, demanded money from them, threatened to kill them, pushed Miss Rinaldi and robbed them of the money. Britton also faces three road traffic charges including dangerous driving on streets in Edinburgh on October 2. All six face a string of theft charges from addresses in Edinburgh, Musselburgh and Haddington on September 23 and 24, last year.