Three men jailed for 14 years for Securicor robbery

Three men convicted of an armed robbery on a Securicor guard were each jailed for 14 years at Preston Crown Court yesterday. Peter Roddy, 41, Dion Gray, 21, and Malcolm Bird, 29, all from Blackpool, denied the robbery at the WH Smith wholesale depot in the resort last October. Almost pounds 10,000 was stolen and nothing was recovered.

The jury was told that police officers discovered that one of the men, Roddy, had scribbled a poem about the robbery on a table top when they went to arrest him. It read: "I would never rob a pauper of that I am sure./The best buzz I have ever had is robbing Securicor". He claimed that the poem was written while he was smoking cannabis and had nothing to do with the robbery.