St Leonards man jailed for robbing bookies store with threatening note
Kenneth Brown threatened to 'blow (their) heads off' if his demands weren't met
A man who pretended to have a firearm and used a threatening handwritten note to rob a betting shop in St Leonards has been jailed.
Kenneth Brown walked into Coral in Battle Road on January 2nd and slid a note across the counter, which read “GIVE ME THE MONEY OR I’ll BLOW YOUR BRAINS OUT.”
While doing so, he wrapped a jacket around his hand and forearm giving the appearance he had a firearm.
The cashier then withdrew £130 from the register and handed this over to Brown, who left the shop and attempted to cover a camera on his way out.
Brown was identified through CCTV from the betting shop and was subsequently charged with robbery.
The 56-year-old, of Marline Road in St Leonards, appeared before Lewes Crown Court on Monday (6 February) and pleaded guilty to one count of robbery.
He had also pleaded guilty year at an earlier hearing to stealing an elderly woman’s purse outside Co-op in London Road, St Leonards, on Thursday 15 December last year.
Brown was sentenced to a total of four years imprisonment.
He was also ordered to pay £228 victim surcharge.
Prevention Inspector Aidan Cornwall, of the Hastings and Rother Neighbourhood Policing Team, said:
"This was a callous offence where Kenneth Brown sought to put cashiers in fear that he had a firearm in order to get them to hand over money.
"He was quickly identified and arrested by our officers and we remanded him in custody to place him before the next available court.
"We welcome this robust sentence of imprisonment to protect our community."