Armed robber took distinctive taxi from one crime scene to next and forgot to wear balaclava
By Stuart Abel
A DRUGGED-UP thug has been jailed for ten years for trying to hold up a bank and then robbing a shop worker at knifepoint minutes later.
Hapless heroin addict Paul Easby, aged 37, put on a balaclava in the store – but only after he had walked unmasked past several CCTV cameras.
Easby, who has spent most of his life behind bars for a string of violent offences, even asked his taxi to wait outside the Londis shop while he carried out the raid.
Police quickly recognised him from the footage and he was arrested the next day, when he admitted he had been so intoxicated he could not recall what he had done.
Now a judge at Plymouth Crown Court has jailed him for a decade for what he called the “terrifying raids”.
Judge Simon Carr said: “The bank cashier took four months before she could return to work and even when she did she was having nightmares.”
He praised the “considerable bravery” shown by the woman who ignored Easby’s threat that he had a gun to press a panic alarm at the Barclays Branch in Armada Way.
Easby, a heroin addict since his early 20s, has committed a string of violent and sometimes bizarre offences including a cat burglary at a jewellery shop and escaping from security guards while going to the toilet.
Easby, of Cornwall Beach, Devonport, pleaded guilty to attempting to rob the cashier on July 10.
He also admitted robbing Londis cashier Mark Stacey minutes later in nearby Stuart Road, Pennycomequick.
Paul Grumbar, for the Crown Prosecution Service, said that Easby loitered in the Barclays branch for several minutes just after 10am.
He added he handed the cashier a note which said: “Give me the money or I will shoot you.”
But Mr Grumbar said she refused, pressed an alarm and snatched the note away – which was later found to carry Easby’s fingerprints.
CCTV footage then catches Easby walking casually from the branch.
Mr Grumbar said that he caught a taxi nearby straight to the Londis store.
He added that the cab stayed outside while Easby threatened Mr Stacey, who was working alone in the store.
Mr Grumbar said he pointed the knife at the worker and said: “Give me the money, I am not afraid to use it.”
The court heard Easby had committed a string of armed robberies back in 2004, when he escaped with cash and jewellery worth £80,000 from small shops in the city centre.
He turned cat burglar to break into a Barbican antiques shop in September 2010. He shinned up a drainpipe and balanced on a model shark to get inside.
Easby was only released in April last year for assaulting an elderly man in the street and then escaping from his security guards in Crownhill.
Julia Cox, for Easby, said he had changed his plea on the day of his trial only about a week after seeing the CCTV for the first time with a solicitor.
She added the father-of-two had found himself a job as a lorry driver upon his latest release.
But Miss Cox said he had been made redundant and then lapsed into drug use.
The court heard the offences were committed while on a cocktail of street drugs and legitimate medication.
Easby was handed ten years for the robbery, with eight years concurrent for the attempted raid. He should spend five years behind bars.
Investigating officer DC Glenn Harrop said after the case: “These are serious offences and we are happy with the outcome. It is just good that nobody was hurt. I would like to thank the witnesses for turning up for what was expected to be a trial. Easby has reached the end of the road.”
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