A couple of inept criminals have been jailed for a forecourt robbery in Rugby.
Daniel Bale and Karl Evans wore homemade balaclavas during the incident at a petrol station in Hillmorton Road, Rugby. After their arrest police found the bits of material cut out to make eyeholes in their hats and the scissors they used.
Bale was seen on CCTV going into the forecourt shop and aggressively waving his arms at a member of staff who retreated into the back office for safety. Bale grabbed around £300 from the till and £70-worth of cigarettes. Evans was seen on CCTV outside the shop acting as a lookout.
Following the incident, an off-duty police officer chased the pair back to a house in Ashlawn Road, where Bale and Evans barricaded themselves in the downstairs toilet. Officers attended to arrest them and found the stolen items in the washing machine. They also found the bits of material cut out of the hats.
At Warwick Crown Court the pair had previously pleaded guilty to the robbery, which occurred on the morning of May 8, 2022.
Back in court last week, Bale was handed a three-year-and-five-month prison sentence after pleading guilty to robbery and failing to surrender to police at the appointed time.
Evans was jailed last year for his role in the robbery. He received a prison sentence of 20 months after pleading guilty to robbery and failing to surrender to police.
PC Maddie Hodgkins-Warren, who led the investigation, said: “Evans and Bale are certainly not criminal masterminds; they left a trail of evidence that made it very difficult for them to do anything other than plead guilty. However, it must have been an extremely frightening ordeal for the victim. Thankfully he wasn’t hurt and the quick thinking of a passing off-duty police officer meant the pair were quickly identified as suspects and arrested.”
