Loan thugs locked up for longer
Scott Clegg and Spencer Rushton ordered Jamie Bowers to carry out the robbery to try to repay a £300 debt which had spiralled to more than £2,500.
Bowers, aged 29, of Hollings Street, Fenton, pointed an imitation pistol at the head of shopkeeper Ian Clark, before stealing £70 from Martin's Newsagent, in Sandon Road, Meir Heath, on July 23, 2007.
Bowers had been threatened by Rushton that his house would be burned down and his family hurt if he didn't "sort" the debt, London's Criminal Appeal Court heard yesterday.
Earlier this year, Rushton, aged 42, of Verona Grove, Longton, and Clegg, of Ridgeway Road, Hanley, were convicted of robbery and possessing an imitation firearm with intent to commit an offence, and were each given four-year terms. Rushton received a further three months for possessing a stun gun.
Lord Justice Scott Baker, sitting with Mr Justice Owen and Mr Justice Cranston, upped Rushton's total term to six years and three months, and 27-year-old Clegg's to five years.
Lord Justice Baker said: "In the case of Rushton, there was the additional aggravating factor that he was the person primarily responsible for pressuring Bowers into committing the offence of robbery with an imitation firearm, although that was pressure which fell short of a possible defence of duress (for Bowers). Clegg played a slightly lesser role in the offence but had a worse record."
The Attorney General, Baroness Scotland QC, referred all three men's sentences to be reviewed by the Court of Appeal, arguing they were "unduly lenient".
Bowers admitted robbery and possessing an imitation firearm at Stafford Crown Court on April 28 this year, and was jailed for 18 months after implicating Rushton and Clegg.
He received a further 18 months, to run consecutively, after admitting having a CS gas canister, used as protection, and an assault on his partner. But the judges left the sentence of Bowers unchanged.
The court heard that, before committing the robbery, Bowers had contacted the police regarding the threats, and that Rushton had ordered him to start selling drugs to pay his debt. Rushton was not arrested at that stage.
On the day of the raid, Rushton and Clegg picked Bowers up in a car. He was handed the gun and told he had to rob a shop.
Lord Justice Baker said: "Bowers position was very different from the other two. The most important mitigation for him was his guilty plea.
"Additional to that is the fact of the assistance he gave in bringing the other offenders to justice, and the pressure which was brought to bear on him.
"We have come to the conclusion that the figure of 18 months was lenient, but not, looking at the whole picture, including his total sentence, unduly so."
