Reopened inquiry solves first robbery case on TV

COLD case police managed to crack the first armed robbery to be featured on TV's Crimewatch after reviewing fingerprint evidence stored from the raid on a Derbyshire bank in 1985.

Alan Murray, now 59, of Woodmans House, in Pilmoor, near York, has been convicted for taking part in the raid at the Cromford branch of Lloyds after police ran fingerprints taken at the scene through the national database, which did not exist at the time of the robbery.

The breakthrough was yesterday hailed by Judge Andrew Hamilton at Derby Crown Court as a "wake-up call" for criminals that justice will catch up with them.

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Fingerprints found at the scene were preserved along with other evidence and when the case was reopened they were matched against fingerprints taken by Nottinghamshire Police in an investigation in 1987.

Unsolved cases are reviewed every five years but it was only now that the database revealed the match.

Yesterday Murray pleaded guilty to the robbery and having an imitation firearm. He will be sentenced next month and the judge warned him: "A custodial sentence is inevitable – the only question is how long it will be."

Murray and two other robbers made off from the raid in broad daylight on September 18, 1985, with 7,500 – the equivalent to an estimated 17,000 today.

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Security guard John Power, 61, was left with serious injuries after being hit with the butt of a gun.

After taking the cash from a safe, the gang fled, leaving a blood-soaked Mr Power on the floor.

Two days later, their getaway car was found abandoned behind a gun shop in Market Place, Belper.

Despite a massive police investigation and its being the first armed robbery to be re-enacted on BBC's Crimewatch, the case remained unsolved until this year.

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The investigating officer for the newly re-opened case, Det Con Derek Ellis, said: "It's due to the advancement in forensics and fingerprinting and the hard work of our fingerprinting expert that Murray was identified."

He said that after the match was made, his team still faced a long and painstaking investigation, witnesses having moved and passed away and police officers having retired.

He said the investigation had taken them all across the country. Murray now lives in Woodmans House, Pilmoor, York.

Dc Ellis said: "Reviewing all the old information and finding Mr Murray was difficult. It took us a week to find the bank teller, who has been absolutely fantastic in the investigation, showing a lot of courage and remembering a lot of detail."

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The officers at Matlock CID are still working on the case and DC Ellis said they were actively seeking the other two robbers.

He has urged anyone with information about the other two to contact them on 0345 123 3333.

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