Masked robbers jailed for stealing from Boots pharmacy

Tuesday 05 June 2018

Two brothers have been jailed, after admitting stealing drugs from Boots the Chemist while hooded and masked to hide their identity.

The pair entered Boots' Highstreet pharmacy on the morning of 11 January, where one of them moved behind the counter and started taking boxes of drugs from the wall.

When one of the staff members informed him he was not meant to be behind the counter and stepped toward him, he said "I don't think so love", before pushing her hard back into the shelves. Then, along with his brother, he fled the shop with a handful of boxes of nitrazepam, crashing through other customers and display units.

Kyle, 32, and Darren, 37, Henderson were arrested just over half an hour later, and yesterday appeared in the Royal Court to be sentenced for burglary.

They were given three years six months each, with a compulsory supervision order to take place after their release. 

Both brothers had extensive previous convictions for possession of drugs, burglary and other criminal offences, to the extent that the court counted their history as an aggravating factor in the sentence. But this was both of their first charge of robbery, which is classified as theft using force.

Kyle Henderson was caught entering Boots on CCTV at around 10:30 on the morning of the day with a relative, and walked around the area where the robbery would occur.

Later, after going to several locations on the Highstreet - again all recorded by CCTV - they returned to the shop with face scarves on and hoods up to conduct the robbery, where two people, including the pharmacist, were pushed over.

Soon after, the pair were arrested on Monument Road, after being spotted by a Police patrol car, and while they were wearing different clothing, Kyle was wearing a backpack which contained face scarves and other sets of clothes. Both men had blister packs of the nitrazepam on their persons, which were found during initial searches, and further searches at the police station.

Kyle also had cannabis resin on his person at the time of his arrest.

The Hendersons' defence advocates argued they had both lived lives always mixed with substance abuse, and the robbery was to fuel their drug addiction - it was said that Darren had been taking drugs since he was eight years old.

It was also argued that while there was force used to escape the pharmacist, no weapons of any kind were used in the robbery.

But Judge Russell Finch said crimes of this kind were simply not welcome in Guernsey - even when they were "badly planned and executed" - and it was an added task of theirs to use this to deter future incidents.

"Robbery remains rare in Guernsey, and one offence of its kind is one too many," he said.

"We hold out little hope that this will be the last time you trouble the police and courts of Guernsey."