Bungling hotel worker jailed after cake knife robbery
A bungling hotel worker who threatened his colleagues at knife point, tied them up and robbed the contents of the hotel safe but then forgot to take what he had stolen with him was jailed this week.
The raid carried out by Christopher Ross, 24, of Waverley Road, Uxbridge, at the Barn hotelin West Ruislip was branded by the judge who put him behind bars for 40 months as "absurd" and "amateurish."
Isleworth Crown Court was told that Ross was regarded as a trusted member of the team at the Barn hotel but then hit upon the plan to rob the safe to pay off a debt he owed of £2,000.
During the raid on 6 February Ross, who had recently won promotion to a bar position, brandished a cake knife covered in bits of food at his terrified victims then put it down and forgot where it was the court was told.
He appeared nervous and kept apologising, Isleworth Crown Court heard, and even had to return to the scene when he forgot to take the proceeds of the raid with him when he left.
Prosecutor Douglas Adams told the court on Monday that the victims were stunned by what happened because they trusted Ross and thought of him as a friend.
Adams said one of the victims said: "I thought it was a joke but it became very quickly obvious that it was not a joke. I was concerned that Mr Ross was going to stab me."
Ross demanded money while waving knives around. He bound the hands of his two colleagues and demanded they open the hotel safe.
"I feared for my life," one victim said in a statement, "I knew I had to do what he asked me. The whole experience was just so traumatising."
After making his escape the bungling crook was forced to return to take the cash, £1,800, and a ring from the safe which he had left behind as he fled the scene.
He was arrested the following day when officers spotted him at Uxbridge Station and asked him "are you wanted by the police?" He replied : "Yes."
The court heard Ross had a troubled up bringing and was made homeless aged 12 and became hooked on steroids and cocaine and was deeply sorry for what he had done.
Judge Anna Guggenheim said Ross had betrayed the trust of his colleagues who thought of him as a friend and it had been a "terrifying ordeal" for them.
But she added: "There are some aspects of your case that are, to be frank, somewhat absurd and suggest it was carried out in a somewhat amateurish fashion."
Ross pleaded guilty to two counts of robbery and was jailed for 40 months.
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By Caterer News
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