Appeal to unveil Poppleton masked raider (From York Press)

Appeal to unveil Poppleton masked raider

12:20pm Monday 5th January 2009

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VILLAGE leaders have issued an appeal to residents to help bring the perpetrators of an armed robbery to justice.

The latest raid, in Poppleton on Friday, is the seventh armed robbery to hit the York area in a month.

The chairmen of two village parish councils called for information about the raid, which saw £1,000 stolen at knifepoint from Cardland Newsagents, in Allerton Drive, Poppleton.

John Pannell, chairman of Upper Poppleton Parish Council, said the robbery was a “terrible thing to happen in a local store”.

He said: “It must have been terrible for the woman involved. It’s usually a fairly staid and safe community where you wouldn’t expect this sort of thing to happen, but happen it has.”

Glen Bradley, chairman of Nether Poppleton Parish Council, said crime in the village was very rare and the robbery had been horrific.

“I would add my voice to calls for anyone with information to contact the police,” he said.

Meanwhile, officers investigating an armed robbery in a York care home have also renewed their appeal for information.

Detectives want to trace witnesses who may have information about the incident, in which £4,000 in bundles of cash was stolen and a care worker was threatened at knifepoint. The attack took place at about 11am on December 18 at the Haisthorpe House Residential Home – a care home catering for people suffering with dementia – in Holgate Road.

A robber pressed a knife with a three-inch bladed weapon to the throat of a 38-year-old male care worker and demanded cash.

The attacker is described as a white male, about 5ft 7ins tall, of medium build and in his 30s. He has an oval-shaped face and has bad acne. He was wearing a black woolly hat and dark clothing, possibly a tracksuit. He is thought to have gained entry to an office block attached to the residential care home and approached the male worker who was working alone at the time.

A spokeswoman for the care home said they had since stepped up security measures around the building.

Police are urging anyone with any information to phone 08545 6060 247 or Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.

DC Lee Boyson, heading the case, said: “We would like to reassure the public we are doing all we can to catch this offender.”

The attack was one of six armed robberies that happened over a three-week period in December that police are investigating.

On December 5, a man walked into the Totesport bookmakers in Gale Lane, Acomb, at about 8.15pm and threatened a cashier with a hammer before stealing £1,020 in cash. Just over an hour later, another Spar store, at the Mill Lane garage, in Heworth, was targeted by three men, who stole cash from the safe.

Staff at Shell garage in Hull Road were forced to hand over cash during an armed raid on December 10.

A week later, on December 17, a gang of four axe-wielding youths left staff at the Spar shop in Lowther Street, in The Groves, terrified when they burst in and forced them to open the safe.

On December 21, a knife-wielding thug punched a man in the face and knocked him to the ground, in Cromwell Road, before running off with a handful of cash.

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