Father And Son Jailed Following Sittingbourne Robbery

A father and son, who robbed a security guard whilst he was collecting cash from a Sittingbourne store, have been jailed for a total of eight years.

Shaun Howard, aged 55 and Charlie Howard, aged 21, both of Jutland House, Little Brights Road, Belvedere, were charged following an investigation by the Kent and Essex Serious Crime Directorate.

On Thursday 28th December the duo approached the driver of the cash transit van on Gadby Road, Sittingbourne at around 8.30am. After collecting money the driver was pushed from behind and a security box containing approximately £10,000 was taken.

Both men fled the scene in a white Mercedes sprinter van that was registered to Shaun Howard. ANPR technology tracked the van to a holiday park in Leysdown where Shaun owned a caravan. Both men were arrested on the same day. A search of the caravan and bin bags directly next door recovered all but £123 of the money.

Both Shaun Howard and Charlie Howard pleaded guilty to the charge of robbery and were sentenced to 5 years and 4 months and 2 years and 8 months respectively at Woolwich Crown Court on Friday 26th January.

Detective Inspector Gary Scarfe, from the Kent and Essex Serious Crime Directorate, told SFM News: "This appeared to be a spontaneous and opportunist incident set into motion by this father and son team who made a decision to steal the money and flee the scene as quickly as possible. They showed no regard for the impact their action would have on the victim who was going about their job. It was with the help of the public that the partial details of the van were obtained and the fantastic work of our Divisional officers who were able to track them down so quickly, make the arrests and recover most of the money that was taken."