(posted 7995 days ago)Bandit hits two bookies on same day
Jun 4 2002By Vicky Wilks, South London Press
AN ARMED robber struck at two south London betting shops on the same day.
The raider struck first at Coral betting shop in Clapham Road, where a brave witness chased and confronted him.
He went into the bookies with an object in a carrier bag that he suggested was a gun, but did not take it out.
The terrified cashier handed over the money and the raider started to leave the shop but stopped to pick up a waste bin and throw it through a glass screen.
When he got outside after the raid last Sunday, the robber tried to pull a bike from some railings but failed because it was chained up.
Then he started to run but someone from the shop chased and challenged him, so he surrendered the money and ran off.
Just 40 minutes later, the raider, who police believe had changed his clothes, struck at the nearby William Hill shop in Kennington Road.
This time, he pulled out a gun straight away and demanded money from the cashier before walking out more calmly than in the previous heist.
The robber is described as aged 35, white, about 5ft 8ins tall, of medium build, with blond hair, stubble and a goatee beard.
In the first raid on Clapham Road, he was wearing dark sunglasses, a three-quarter-length jacket, a dark woolly hat, dirty white trousers and surgical gloves.
By the time he got to Kennington Road, he had changed into a white Panama hat, and a brown chequered shirt with a grey vest over it.
Anyone with information should contact Barnes Flying Squad: 020- 8247 7931.