Rolex Watch Raiders Caged

Two smash-and-grab robbers’ sledgehammer raid on Southend-on-Sea jewellery store, which was foiled by a have-a-go-hero plus reinforced glass, have been locked up.

The North London duo pulled up outside Ernest Jones, Southend High Street on a scooter at 9.20am, targeting the 35 expensive Rolex watches – worth £2,000 to £18,000 - in the main display.

However, two panes of reinforced glass withstood their sledgehammer’s blows and they fled when confronted by a local drinking a cup of coffee outside a nearby café.

George Allpress, 21, of Frederick Street, Gray’s Inn, Camden and an Islington 17 year-old, who cannot be identified, pleaded guilty to attempting to rob the store on March 9 and the aggravated taking of a scooter, removed from outside a King’s Cross shop the day before.

“There are five aggravating features here,” announced Blackfriars Crown Court Judge Ian Karsten QC.

“This was pre-planned, there was more than one person involved, they were high-value items, the amount of force used and the use of disguises.

“This was quite a powerful instrument, this sledgehammer.”

Allpress was sentenced to a total of two years and eight months and the juvenile received two years for the raid, but received an additional two years on separate drug charges.

“While on bail look what happens. He commits this very serious attempted robbery,” added the judge, regarding the youth.

Prosecutor Mr. Hugh Griffiths previously told the court four staff – two men and two women – were in the jewellery store when the raiders appeared outside.

“One of the women saw the scooter drive up with two men and she knew what was going to happen because there have been two previous robberies at the shop (pictured).

“The passenger, wearing a blue boiler suit and a white crash helmet, was later identified as the juvenile and he entered the shop with a sledgehammer and hit the internal window four times.

“The women were extremely frightened and retreated to the back of the shop,” added Mr. Griffiths.

“Although shattered the window was not broken so the defendant went outside and tried to smash the front window.

“Although the front window was severely damaged it held.

“A man sitting outside Costa Coffee shouted: ‘what the fuck do you think you’re doing. Stop.’

“He went towards the defendant who panicked, threw the sledgehammer down, jumped on the back of the scooter and was driven away by the driver.

“The witness chased after the scooter, but there was no chance of catching it.”

The duo dumped the scooter a mile away in Park Terrace and were watched by a local resident throwing their crash helmets and boiler suits over a garden fence.

The witness later picked Allpress out on an ID parade and his fingerprint was also found on his crash helmet.

The juvenile’s DNA was linked to his crash helmet.

They fled in a people carrier driven by a third man, but witnesses had raised the alarm and police followed the vehicle along the A127 and arrested the defendants in Basildon.

One female member of staff later told police: “This incident has left me frightened and shocked and has come so close after the last one in January.”

“This is an attempt to steal high-value goods and there must have been another party involved who would have received the watches if they were successful,” said Allpress’s lawyer Mr. Nicholas Goss.

“Mr. Allpress seems to fit into the particular role of being able to ride a scooter and nothing more and he will today go to Wormwood Scrubs for the first time.

“This job was offered to him down in Southend at a time when his mother had suffered a nervous breakdown and he was looking after his younger brother and he thought it was a way to get some easy money,” added the lawyer.

“This was a bad decision by an ill-educated man and is something that he deeply regrets.”

The youth’s lawyer Mr. Matthew Hardyman said his client was expelled from school and left the family home at the age of fourteen and fell into a bad crowd, but now enjoyed greater support from his family.

The defendant received an additional two years custody after pleading guilty to two counts of possession, with intent to supply, class A drugs.

He was arrested with a gang of young men when police were called to the Travelodge Hotel, Old Street, Islington where they were separating drugs into small wraps for sale.