Robber jailed after threatening Chatteris petrol station worker with imitation gun

A man has been jailed after he stole cash from a filling station by threatening the cashier an imitation firearm in a terrifying armed robbery

Shane Richards, (31) carried out the raid in August 2021, leaving staff at the Chatteris station terrified.

Police have welcomed the sentence handed out at Huntingdon Crown Court after he was jailed for more than five years.

The court heard Richards went to the Applegreen Service Station, in Chatteris, at about 8.15pm on Saturday, 21 August, 2021, and loitered in the shop for some time before approaching the counter and demanding money from the till, while making a metal “pistol” visible in his trouser waistband.

The shop worker handed over £330 in cash after Richards had asked for “everything out of the till”, and said he didn’t want “to use it [the gun] but I will.”

Richards fled but was later arrested after shop staff recognised him.

At 6.45pm that day, Richards and a friend, David Leadbeater, 33, had also attempted to get money from a vulnerable man in Fairway, Chatteris.

Richards knocked on the back door of the house and claimed the victim owed him £50.

When the victim tried to call the police, Richards grabbed the phone from his hand and pulled a crowbar out of his hooded top.

The victim went out to alert a neighbour and Richards and Leadbeater left without the money.

On Friday (14 July), at Huntingdon Law Courts, Richards, of Treeway, Chatteris, was jailed for five years and six months, having been found guilty of burglary, robbery and having an imitation firearm with intent to commit an indictable offence.

Leadbeater, of Park Street, Chatteris, was jailed for two years, having been found guilty of burglary.

Both men were handed five-year restraining orders from contacting the victims.

DC Matt Reed, who investigated for Cambridgeshire Police, welcomed the sentence handed out, and said: “Richards’ crimes would have been terrifying for both victims and this result shows we and the courts will not tolerate violence like this in the county.”