Man who carried out an armed robbery at a shop near his Warwick home was quickly arrested – because staff recognised him

A ‘desperate’ man who carried out an armed robbery at a Tesco Express store just half a mile from his Warwick home was quickly arrested – because the staff had recognised him.

Jack Stopps pleaded guilty at Warwick Crown Court to carrying out the robbery at the store in Chase Meadow Square and possessing an offensive weapon during the raid.

And Stopps (37) of Shakespeare Avenue, Warwick, thanked the judge after being jailed for two years and 10 months, saying he had been ‘thinking it was going to be much worse.’

Prosecutor Philip Allman said that on November 10 two members of staff, a man and a woman, were working at the Tesco Express store when Stopps and another man rushed in at 10.15pm.

They were both wearing face masks, and Stopps rushed behind the counter brandishing a hammer as he shouted at the assistants to open the till.

When it was opened Stopps, who threatened to kill them if they did anything, declared: “It’s not enough, it’s not enough.”

He took packets of cigarettes from the cabinet behind the counter as the female staff member, who was pregnant at the time, opened the other till while his accomplice stood over her.

The accomplice, who had a knife, although the staff did not notice it until they saw a CCTV recording, grabbed some cash and bottles of alcohol before he and Stopps ran from the store.

But despite their attempts to disguise their identities, the staff recognised the two robbers as locals, and Stopps was arrested nearby, still with the hammer.

The other man ‘remains at large and is wanted by the police,’ said Mr Allman.

He pointed out that the female assistant, who said her ordeal had been ‘horrendous,’ made worse by the fact that she was pregnant, and when she was unwell the following day she had feared she would lose her baby, but was OK.

Mr Allman added that Stopps had previous convictions for 34 offences, including a robbery, but they were all old apart from possessing an offensive weapon in 2019.

Judge Peter Cooke said Stopps could have been charged with the joint possession of the knife carried by the other man.

Simon Hunka, defending, conceded: “It is no doubt a joint enterprise robbery where the other person had a knife, but the fact is neither weapon was used.”

He pointed out that Stopps had pleaded guilty on the basis that he had a drugs debt.

“This was committed by Mr Stopps when he was suffering a significant degree of pressure. It might explain the desperation of the situation that he would commit such an offence at a place where he was known.”

Mr Hunka said Stopps, who had kept out of trouble in recent years until he was badly affected by his mother’s death, had written a letter of apology to the female staff member, adding: “He is truly sorry for what he’s done.

“He acknowledges he’s going to have to go to custody. He is angry with himself that he will not be able to see his teenage daughter in the way he would wish for some time.”

Sentencing Stopps, Judge Cooke told him: “It is perfectly reasonable for Mr Hunka to be cautious on your behalf about what you said in the letter.

“There has got to be an element of it being self-serving, but it is an eloquent and very nicely written letter of its type. It could only make her feel a little easier about what happened.

“I am going to take it that you mean what you said in that letter, and that it was a genuine expression of remorse.

“It also goes in your favour that you had brought about a real change in your behaviour from 2009 until 2018 when things went awry for you again.

“I accept you were in dire straits and under pressure, and that there was a degree of desperation in that choice of target, but I cannot ignore the fact that you have robbed before.

“I have no desire to pass a sentence which will crush your determination to get back to where you were before 2018.”

After being sentenced, Stopps told the Judge: “Thank you so much, because in my head I was thinking it was going to be so much worse and I was not going to see my daughter until she was 19. I want to get back to where I was before my mum died.”

After the case, investigating officer, Det Con Jag Gill from Leamington CID, said: “I'd like to praise the bravery of the store staff, in what would have been a very frightening incident for them, and also the work of our response officers to locate and arrest Stopps.

“This was a tremendous team effort to promptly investigate this offence and bring it before the courts. Stopps will now face justice for his actions.”