14/3/2008

Surrey Local News

Cash stolen in armed raid at bookmakers

A QUANTITY of money has been stolen in an armed robbery at a betting shop in Dorking, the latest in a series of raids on banks, building societies and bookmakers across the county.

Two men armed with a black handgun threatened staff at the Ladbrokes branch, in Falkland Road, at about 6pm on Thursday.

They shouted at the workers to "get down" and then fled with the cash to a waiting grey or blue Volvo car, which had a third man inside and was parked in Barrington Road.

Detectives are linking the raid to a failed robbery attempt in Thames Ditton earlier on Thursday.

The man holding the gun in the Dorking incident was described as white, about 6ft tall, aged in his early 20s, and of slim build.

He was wearing a black hooded top, a scarf around his face, black gloves and black jeans, and he spoke with a southern accent.

The second man was white, also about 6ft tall and of slim build. He was wearing a grey hooded top and also had a scarf wrapped around his face.

Detective Inspector Juliet Parker said: “My team are pursuing a number of positive leads and have already gathered some promising information from several witnesses.”

The Dorking and Thames Ditton incidents take the number of cash raids and attempted robberies in Surrey to at least 10 in the past two months.

• Similarities between attempted raids on HSBC branches in East Horsley and Ashtead, on March 11 and 12, are being probed by detectives.
• A Barclays Bank in Tadworth was targeted on February 28. Two people have been questioned and are on police bail until June 18.
• Four other incidents in the space of eight days are being separately linked by police. Two bank raids and two attempted building society robberies took place in Shepperton, Leatherhead, Egham and Ashford, with a similar description of the main suspect emerging.
• Two armed robbers stole thousands of pounds from a Coral bookmakers in Ashtead on January 14.

Anyone with information on the Dorking betting shop robbery should call Surrey Police on 0845 126 2222, quoting reference B/08/5299.

First printed in: Surrey Advertiser Online

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