Armed robber who stole over £100,000

Pic:Robert Darling, 37

Staff reporter(wp/es):

An armed robber who threatened to shoot travel agent staff and stole more than £100,000 in a series of "terrifying" raids has been jailed  for 13 years.

Robert Darling, 37, from the Southwark area, targeted three travel agents in Bexley, Upminster and Kent between July and October this year. 

In all three robberies Darling threatened members of staff with a gun, ordering them to empty the safes of money.

Police said Darling stole £67,000 from Thomson Travel Agents in the Broadway shopping centre in Bexleyheath, £32,000 from a Thomas Cook travel agent on Mount Pleasant Road in Tunbridge Wells and £5,000 from a Thomson Travel Agents on Bell Corner in Upminster. 

Darling admitted to three counts of robbery, three counts of possession of an imitation firearm and one count of possession of identity documents with intent, at the Old Bailey.

He was sentenced to 13 years at the same court on Tuesday. 

Darling was arrested by officers at an address in Rotherhithe on October 21, where the gun and money from the Upminster robbery were recovered. 

The money from the offences in Bexley and Kent have not been recovered. 

DC Leisa Johnson, of the Met's Organised Crime Command, said:"This was a terrifying ordeal for all of the people involved.

"The firearm pointed at them appeared genuine and this was coupled with threats to shoot them from Darling.

"This has the understandable effect of causing the staff genuine fear for their lives. This sentence reflects the seriousness of the three incidents."