An accountant who went off the rails and tried to rob a Caribbean takeaway after convincing himself the lone woman behind the counter owed him cash has been jailed for twenty months.
Hastings-born New Zealander Lloyd Spence, 40, of Moreland Road, Bromley is the ex-financial controller of the National Childminding Association with an unblemished twenty-year career in the accountancy profession.
He obtained an accountancy degree in 1994 from New Zealand’s Massey University, qualified as a chartered accountant four years later and up to his arrest was managing director of Spens Consulting Ltd.
He pleaded guilty at Croydon Crown Court to attempting to rob Pat Henry at Crystal Food Bowl, Downham Way, Bromley on May 6 and possessing a shovel as an offensive weapon on the same occasion.
“You made demands for money from the till and picked up a stool and threatened the shopkeeper,” Recorder Edward Connell told the defendant (pictured).
“You were urged by the man you were with to stop, and left, but picked up a shovel you had hidden in bushes in case there was trouble and returned to the scene.
“This offence is aggravated by the pre-planning and the fact the victim was in a shop by herself and vulnerable and you picked up a stool and threatened her.”
The court heard father-of-one Spence, whose marriage has recently collapsed, was diagnosed with a bipolar disorder in Highdown Prison.
“The personal circumstances are regrettable and it is shocking it has taken so long for the diagnosis,” said Spence’s lawyer.
Her client has also been employed as the finance manager for the Genesis Housing Group.
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