Bungled robbery bid at bookie's was no joke

Mar 13 2008

A HAMILTON man tried to rob a Blantyre bookie’s and threatened to tie up staff and put them in the back of a van.

One witness was in tears at Hamilton Sheriff Court on Tuesday as she recalled events at the Stonefield Road branch of William Hill on November 27 last year.

The accused, Richard Kilpatrick (22) of Whistleberry Drive, Whitehill, had denied assaulting staff James Cope and Sarrah Anne Boyd and attempting to rob them of cash.

But a jury found him guilty on Tuesday by majority verdict.

Giving evidence, the branch’s then deputy manager, Sarrah Boyd, said Kilpatrick had come into the shop at about 9pm.

He picked up coupons and made to walk back out the front door.

However, he turned around and approached the counter and said: ‘gie us your money.’

Asked by fiscal depute John Gildea about her reaction, she said that she didn’t think Kilpatrick was serious at first.

However, he “kept going on” and said ‘you are meant to give me money.’

Ms Boyd said he became more and more aggressive and she contacted the branch in nearby Station Road telling them to call the police.

She said the accused kept on shouting ‘gie us your f****** money.’

The fiscal said to Ms Boyd that she was clearly upset recollecting the events, and she agreed, adding: “It was getting really serious at that point.”

Ms Boyd said she thought the man had said on two occasions that he had a knife.

She didn’t see a knife, but thought he had his hands in his pockets while he stood in front of the counter.

When Kilpatrick walked towards the rear of the counter to the staff area, Ms Boyd said she grabbed roughly £500 from the till and put it in the safe.

She said the man was kicking the door to the counter area and telling her to open it.

However, Ms Boyd said she told him she had put the money away, adding: ‘Don’t be silly. Just go away.’

Mr Gildea asked the witness if the man had only mentioned a knife, but she replied that he had also said at one point that he had a gun and that he was going to shoot her.

Her ordeal ended when police arrived and grabbed Kilpatrick.

Mr Gildea asked Ms Boyd if she could see in court the man who had been in the shop that evening.

She pointed to Kilpatrick sitting in the dock.

Her colleague James Cope also gave evidence - and identified Kilpatrick as the man who had carried out the attempted robbery.

“He said he was going to tie us up and put us in the back of a van and stab us,” Mr Cope told the court.

The 19-year-old said the incident had left him “quite shaken up” and that he didn’t regard it as a joke.

Cross-examined by Kilpatrick’s solicitor Charles Ferguson, Mr Cope said he thought the man in the shop that evening had been drunk.

The former bookie’s worker said he thought that the man had a tear in his eye when he appeared in the shop, and had kept saying that his comments were a joke.

Mr Cope also agreed that what the man had been saying that evening was inconsistent.

Mr Ferguson put it to the witness that the man was still “mumbling and rambling” when the police arrived.

Mr Cope replied: “Yes.”

Kilpatrick’s previous convictions include a robbery at knifepoint, for which he was jailed for 18 months in 2005.

After the jury delivered their guilty verdict, Sheriff John Miller deferred sentence on Kilpatrick until April 4 for a full range of reports.