Life sentence for robber

A ROBBER from Hamsey has been jailed for life after threatening a jeweller with an imitation pistol before fleeing from his store empty handed.

Lloyd Thomas visited Bruford Jewellers in Cornfield Road, Eastbourne, in March pretending to be a customer.

The manager, Ashley Pugh, showed him two Rolex watches valued at between 2,500 and 3,500.

Thomas, 26, pulled out an imitation pistol and ordered him to hand over the more expensive gold watch. But despite the demands, Mr Pugh refused to hand over the watch and Thomas fled empty handed.

Mr Pugh then followed Thomas, of The Great North Barn, Hamsey, and saw him get into a car. After noting the registration number he called the police.

Thomas, who changed his name from Jason Lloyd Starkey in 1996, was arrested later that afternoon and admitted having the gun. He was later charged with robbery with an imitation firearm with intent.

Sentencing Thomas at Lewes Crown Court, Judge Richard Brown said due to a string of previous convictions including robbery with a firearm in 1996, he had no choice but to jail him for life and ordered he must serve a minimum of three years.

Julian Dale, defending, said Thomas had only attempted the robbery in a desperate bid to get a deposit for a flat for his family to live in. He had been threatened by his partner s ex-husband and had become desperate. It was not a get-rich quick scheme at the expense of the jeweller he was attempting to get money so his partner s children could live with him so they wouldn t be taken into care as they had nowhere to live.