A GANG of three robbers, whose ringleader threatened a shop manager that there would be ‘trouble’ if he didn’t show them where the safe was, were found guilty today.
Adrian Martin, 20, Samuel Morrison, 21, and Gavin Walters, 29, robbed £440 of takings from the Cycle Warehouse in Trafalgar Road, Greenwich, on January 12 this year.
A jury at Woolwich Crown Court found them all guilty of robbery after just two hours of deliberation.
Earlier the court heard from manager Matthew Munro how three hooded men with scarves covering their faces entered his shop at 5.45pm just as he had finished cashing up for the day.
Testifying behind a screen, he said one of them gestured to his hoodie pocket and demanded to be shown the safe.
He said: “[The first one] came behind the counter and grabbed me by the shirt and said ‘this is what’s going to happen’.
“He asked about the safe and I lied and said we don’t have a safe. I said that all we have is the £100 we took today that was in an envelope on the counter and he proceeded to pick it up.
“Then he said ‘I know there is a safe here, I don’t want there to be any trouble and he grabbed his hoodie pocket implying he had a weapon so I told him where the safe was.”
Mr Munro opened the safe for the robbers who took four days worth of takings that had been left in there, the court heard.
Police who were called by Mr Munro picked up the gang in a black VW Beetle within 10 minutes of the incident and found envelopes containing the takings from the shop in the car.
Martin of Fenwick Road, Peckham, Morrison of Boreman House, Thames Street, Greenwich and Walters of Courtney Hotel, Aldersbrook Road, Manor Park, East London, all denied robbery.
Sentencing was adjourned until August 6 for pre sentence reports.