Prolific robbers who robbed £80k from Haslingden convenience store cash machine jailed

Anthony Hughes, 38, and Gordon Hopkins, 44, were sentenced at Burnley Crown Court on Friday after each pleading guilty to robbery and possession of an offensive weapon.

The court heard how around 8am on September 13 last year, transit security guard Patrick Callaghan was making a routine cash drop off at the Haslingden News store in Manchester Road, Haslingden, Lancashire.

Prosecutor Stephen Parker told the court how Mr Callaghan had made three trips into the shop to fill the cash machine, and while on the third trip noticed two men enter the store, each wearing balaclavas and both carrying weapons, one which looked like a baseball bat and one a machete.

Mr Parker said: “He backed off and didn’t engage with the defendants, and one man, who appeared to have a baseball bat, later identified as Hughes, pointed towards the safe and said, ‘open it, open it now’.”

CCTV played in court showed Mr Callaghan enter the shop before the two defendants, Hopkins wielding a machete, came in behind him.

They could be seen making their way towards the cash machine and ushering the victim to move out of the way.

They then bent down to unload the cash from the machine and left the shop.

Mr Parker continued: “The police were called and the registration plate of the vehicle the defendants were driving was shared between officers, as well as officers over the border into West Yorkshire.

“The car, which was on false plates and had been stolen from an address in Leeds earlier that month, was eventually stopped by police in West Yorkshire, where the plates on the vehicle had been changed again.

“The defendants tried to run from the car, with Hopkins, the driver, discarding latex gloves and a balaclava into a bin and running through a number of gardens. He was later identified from DNA on these items.

Anthony Hughes

“Hughes ran across a number of lanes of a motorway and was also later identified by forensics.

“When the car was abandoned, there was a total of £79,480 in cash recovered.

“Each of the defendants were arrested and made admissions to committing the robbery at the first opportunity.”

It was heard Mr Callaghan needed to take six weeks off work as a result of the incident, and had been deeply affected by what had occurred on that day, including suffering from post traumatic stress disorder.

Hughes, of Coronation Parade in Leeds, has five convictions for 11 offences, which included a ten year sentence for conspiracy to commit robbery in 2001 and a nine year sentence in 2005 for a similar offence.

Hopkins, of Spen Walk, Leeds, has 20 convictions for 137 offences, including burglary, vehicle taking, theft from motor vehicles, conspiracy to commit theft and conspiracy to commit robbery.

Mitigating for Hughes, Michael Greenhalgh said his client was extremely sorry for what he’d done, particularly in relation to the victim, Mr Callaghan.

Timothy Jacobs, for Hopkins, said his client wanted to try and put his days of offending behind him, and expressed his remorse at his actions.

Gordon Hopkins

Sentencing the pair, Recorder Nicholas Clarke QC said: “This was a thoroughly professional and carefully planned out robbery.

“Not only in how you were going to commit it but also how you hoped to get away with it.

“My first thoughts here are with the victim in this case. He has to be commended for the way he dealt with it in calm courage and a professional approach.

“It can’t be surprising that he has suffered from PTSD and been so adversely affected by this incident.

"The only way to deal with you is by way of extended determinate sentence."

Hughes was sentenced to 13 years and eight months, with three years and four months on extended licence. 

Hopkins was also sentenced to 13 years and eight months, with three years and four months on extended licence.

The total sentence imposed on both defendants was 17 years.