Post office armed robbery pair jailed

TWO raiders convicted of a botched armed robbery at a Bradford post office have been sentenced to 13 years and eight years in prison.

Hugh Munro and Mark Reynolds tried to rob Thornton Post Office on October 16 last year after disguising themselves in white forensic suits and dust masks, but they ended up empty handed and leaving DNA.

Sam Andrews prosecuting told Leeds Crown Court yesterday Munro went to smash the security glass at the Post Office counter using a taped parcel made from bricks or Yorkshire stone wrapped in an old pillow case, only to be told by temporary postmaster James Gibbons that he had already pressed the panic button so the police were on the way.

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A customer then bravely tackled Munro causing him to drop his parcel which was later recovered with his blood on it, and when he moved over to the shop counter and tried to shake that till open his mask slipped, enabling the man working there to see his face.

Reynolds, who was carrying a replica handgun, had waited at the door, but after they both fled the scene he went to relieve himself in a side street leaving his mask lying there, which police recovered with his DNA on.

Munro, 48, of Wakefield Road, Wakefield and Reynolds, 39, of Harewood Avenue, Pontefract, were both found guilty by a Bradford Crown Court jury earlier this year of attempted robbery and having an imitation firearm at the post office, which Recorder Bryan Cox QC said must still have been a terrifying experience for the victims.

Munro, who has previously served a 12-year sentence for attempted robbery, was also convicted at another trial of burglary at a house in Pontefract. Paul Fleming, representing him, said he still denied any involvement in either crime.

Richard Canning for Reynolds said he now accepted acting idiotically in drink at the post office.