Woman to be sentenced after £5k Norwich bookies raid

Betfred in Norwich which was targeted in a £5k raid in  2018 <i>(Image: Peter Walsh, Newsquest)</i>
Betfred in Norwich which was targeted in a £5k raid in 2018 (Image: Peter Walsh, Newsquest)
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A woman who helped set up a £5k robbery at a Norwich bookmakers she used to work at is to be sentenced next month.

Meriel Hayes, 43, had been working behind the counter at the Betfred bookmakers in London Street when it was targeted by a knife-point raider who stole a total of £5,435.

Norwich Crown Court heard Hayes, formerly of Beverley Road, Norwich, had "hatched a plan" with Christopher Passley, 50, to help set up the raid.

Norwich Evening News:

During Passley's trial last month jurors heard Hayes had let the raider in to use the toilet in the betting shop at the time of the raid on July 1, 2018.

Hayes subsequently pleaded guilty to conspiracy to rob and will be sentenced on January 13 next year.

Passley, from Nottingham, was not present during the trial has not been present during the trial and was not represented in court.

Jurors were told Passley, who is understood to be in Jamaica, had "voluntarily absented" himself from the trial.

The jury of seven men and five women took less than 40 minutes to convict him of conspiracy to rob.

He is due to be sentenced at a later date.

A Norfolk Police spokesman said Jamaica "doesn't currently extradite their citizens to serve a sentence in the UK" but added "markers are in place should the defendant enter a country with extradition".

The trial heard Passley, who was described as "the getaway driver" drove another man in a hired Mazda car to the betting shop where Hayes had been working at the time.

The jury heard one of the men Passley had been driving "went into the betting shop and produced a knife" before threatening staff and getting away with the cash before being driven away.

In a police interview, Passley told officers he collected them as a favour for Hayes, who was a friend, but insisted he "didn't know them" and thought it had been to do with drugs.

He told officers "I didn't know anything about the robbery".

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