THE mastermind behind a terrifying raid on a Bournemouth snooker club has had more than £1,000 confiscated in a hearing at Bournemouth Crown Court.
Former Loyalist paramilitary, Billy Grogan, 48, currently serving a 15-year prison sentence, was part of a robbery plot on The Academy in Christchurch Road, Boscombe, in October 2008.
Grogan, described as “a ruthless gangster” during the trial at Bournemouth Crown Court, and “inside man” Alex Calderwood, 47, were refused permission to appeal against their convictions and sentences at the Criminal Appeal Court in London on Wednesday.
See footage of the terrifying attack below
The pair were convicted in a trial at Bournemouth Crown Court while their co-accused Martin Trent, 41, and Martin Willis, 47, admitted their involvement in the robbery.
Thursday’s hearing at Bournemouth Crown Court heard Trent and Willis, who carried out the raid armed with a loaded gun and a hammer, got away with £4,300.
CCTV footage during the six-minute robbery, showed the pair ordering shocked customers to lie on the floor. A shot was fired and a blind man was hit with a claw hammer.
The barman was ordered to open two safes and a till. Trent and Willis fled with the cash back to Grogan’s recently-acquired pub, Deacons public house in Christchurch Road, Boscombe, where Grogan was waiting for them.
On his arrest Grogan was found to have the sum of £1,217.21 on him.
The amount was ordered to be confiscated under the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 by His Hon Judge Harvey Clark QC sitting at Bournemouth Crown Court.
Calderwood is serving seven years, Trent was locked up indefinitely for public protection with the recommendation that he should serve four years and 55 days before being released and Willis was jailed for nine years.
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