Thief's tattoo gives him away

Special thanks to our friends Sue & David from across the big pond.
Courtesy of The Comet

THERE was one little detail a persistent thief forgot to cover up when he went on an off-licence robbery.

His name was tattooed across the back of his neck - and the perfect piece of evidence was captured by the shop's CCTV camera.

Lee Ormondroyd, 23, was committing the crime to fund his cocaine habit.

At St Albans Crown Court on Friday the crook from Augustus Gate, Stevenage, pleaded guilty to a burglary and a robbery and asked for 49 other offences to be taken into consideration.

Prosecuting, Fleur Eysenck said the burglary took place on the evening of December 4, 2005, at a Threshers off-licence in Cuffley.

A female employee was alone in the store when she heard noises and a car engine running out the back.

She went to investigate and, as she did, three men burst into the front of the shop and began stealing cigarettes from behind the counter. She saw one of them was carrying a weapon that looked like a crowbar.

She locked herself in a back room and heard one of the men say, "stick her, stab her or stop her". Terrified, she pressed a panic alarm and the men ran off with £1,200 worth of stock.

Ormondroyd was later identified as one of the men from the CCTV footage by a tattoo saying Lee across the back of his neck.

Then on August 9, 2006 Ormondroyd was involved in a robbery at flats in Welham Green near Hatfield.

Adam Knight was going into the flats via a communal entrance to visit a friend when three men ran at him. He tried to stop them entering the building but they forced their way in and pinned him to the wall and punched him.

One of the men produced a small gun which he used to hit Mr Knight on the shoulder and back of the head and stole his mobile phone and wallet.

The men then broke the door down of a nearby flat. As they did so, Mr Knight escaped and as he drove away he saw the men leaving the flats with stolen property including laptops and jewellery.

Ormondroyd admitted being involved in the robbery but was not the man brandishing the gun, which was never recovered. His accomplices were not apprehended.

The court heard Ormondroyd had a history of offending and was already serving a prison sentence for breaching a community order.

Defending, Jane Bickerstaff said his crimes were motivated by his crack cocaine habit which was "out of control".

She said he was not the man who threatened the shop assistant during the Threshers burglary and was "remorseful" that Mr Knight had been injured during the flats robbery.

She added: "Ormondroyd has a partner trying to help him get off drugs and a seven-month-old baby girl.

"When he is released from prison he wants a clean slate which is why he volunteered much of the information about the offences to be taken into consideration. He wants to have a useful, crime-free life."

Judge Stephen Warner said both victims involved in the theft and burglary suffered a "thoroughly terrifying ordeal". He accepted Ormondroyd had not been the main player in each case but was still a part in the "joint enterprise".

He sentenced Ormondroyd to a total of four-and-a-half years in prison. This is to run consecutively to the sentence he is currently serving.