Armed robbers jailed after CCTV captures attack

One of the men brandished a firearm - later revealed to be an imitation weapon

Two men have been jailed after admitting a "deeply unsettling and frightening" robbery captured on the CCTV cameras of a service station.

Footage showed the men, armed with an imitation pistol and a knife, pointing the weapon at a cashier and marching towards the till area of the shop in Cambridge Road, Stansted Mountfitchet at about 22:30 GMT on 27 September.

The pair fled with cigarettes worth more than £900, Essex Police said.

Grant Bolden, 39, of Hunters Way, Saffron Walden, was jailed for seven years and Jack Knight, 45, of Flitch Green, Dunmow, was sentenced to four and a half years.

The robbery was captured on CCTV cameras at the Stansted Mountfitchet service station

Det Sgt David Crane, of the Essex Police Serious and Organised Crime Unit, said: "The seriousness of their offending was matched by the determination of our team to find them and bring them to justice."

Both men admitted to robbery charges at an earlier hearing at Chelmsford Crown Court.

Police said Bolden was also sentenced for separate offences committed in May 2023 - making threats with a knife and a racially-aggravated public order offence.

'Incriminating'

The CCTV footage showed one of the men - identified by police as Knight - wearing a red face mask and pointing a firearm at a cashier.

A second man, wielding a knife, dropped an empty holdall over the counter before leaping over the desk.

The pair flee the premises with stolen goods just two minutes after they arrived.

Police searched Knight's home and recovered a black handgun matching the description of the weapon used in the attack.

Bolden came forward after a police appeal but denied being a part of any robbery offence.

Analysis of mobile phones attributed to the pair showed incriminating messages further revealing their involvement, the force said.

Det Sgt Crane said: "This was a deeply unsettling and frightening incident for the victim, who had no reason to believe the pistol pointed at their head wasn't a viable firearm.

"We were able to irrefutably link both offenders to this offence, leaving them with no choice but to plead guilty.

"They will both rightly spend a considerable term behind bars."