Man who tried to hold up bookmakers while armed with tin of John West pilchards spared jail

A man has escaped jail after trying to hold up his local bookmakers with a tin of pilchards. Rory Seager, 18, owed a friend £1,800 and spent the day ploughing his last pennies into roulette machines hoping to win the money until he was down to his last pound. The 6ft 4in teenager then hit upon plan to rob the bookies - where he was a regular customer. He bought a 99p tin of John West pilchards and burst into William Hill in Ilford, nort heast London, last December, Snaresbrook Crown Court heard. Seager demanded cash and claimed the tin of fish in tomato sauce in his black bag was a lethal explosive device. "I've got a bomb," he told cashier Adeyemi Awomudu who simply walked off into a secure room at the back of the shop.



Realising he had not thought his plan through, Seager hurled the tin across the shop in frustration and left. Mr Awomudu had recognised him and Seager was arrested shortly afterwards, confessing to his bungled plan immediately at the police station. He admitted attempted robbery and one count of communicating false information about a bomb hoax. Edward Franklin, prosecuting, said: "This wasn't a classic bomb hoax in that the security services weren't alerted and there's no evidence that any action was taken by the authorities. This is beat dealt with as an attempted robbery - you can say you have a knife or a gun, in this case it was a tin of pilchards masquerading as a bomb."

Caroline Carberry, defending, said Seager had been suffering from depression at the time of the incident and has Tourette's Syndrome. These are serious offences and I accept that normally these types of offences would merit an immediate sentence of imprisonment," she said. "He's far from someone who fits the profile of a robber of a small business, it's a great irony that Rory Seager went into a bookmaker somewhere he was known - he knew the man behind the counter." She added that Seager's own mother also works at a bookmakers and choosing to rob a similar premises indicated he 'hadn't given it much thought.' "This was entirely out of character, this was an aberration in this young man's life," she went on.



Passing down a two-year suspended sentence, two year's supervision by the probation service and ordering him to undergo mental health treatment, Judge Karl King said: "There can be absolutely no doubt that what you did was to commit a very serious offence. You secreted this item in a black bag, no doubt to give it a more convincing air to what you were doing. I'm satisfied that the custody threshold has been passed but what I am about to do is exceptional and does not reduce the gravity of your offence you committed. I am persuaded that I can suspend the sentence." Judge King also barred him from any betting shop for the next 12 months and ordered him to pay a £100 surcharge. Seager, of Ilford, wiped away tears as his sentence was read out. One of his family shouted "You are a just and a fair man, your honour" as the judge left the bench.