Robber holds up bookmaker with fake gun
Virgil:
August 21st, 2007
A man enters the bookmaker’s Ladbrokes holding what appears to be a gun inside a bag. He demands cash. The manager hands him over six hundred pounds while the customers shy into corners and stay clear, and then he leaves in a hurry. You move to leave yourself, but then he turns to point the gun at you and says “Back off”. What do you do?
Well, not much if you realise that inside the bag is no more than the robber’s girlfriend’s vibrator. This was the way that Nicki Jex, 27, tried to make away with £613 just after Christmas last year. When customer Wayne Vakani was told to “back off”, he kept his distance but followed the robber’s movements, ultimately providing the information that led to Jex’s arrest.
After initially denying any involvement, Jex later changed tact and pleaded guilty. But making reference to the ridiculous item being used for the hold-up, his defence in mitigation pointed out that the man was in a “fragile” state of mind and in the midst of drug addiction:
“One can be thankful that the item he had wasn’t a firearm. Frankly, he didn’t care less what happened to him at that time. He was falling into the abyss and that’s the root cause of drugs.”
Jex has now been jailed for five years, and Mr Vakani awarded £500 for his “very considerable courage”. Not bad for being threatened by a weapon that would have, at most, tickled.