Brockley's own Elton John was today convicted for armed robbery. The Bexley Times reports:
'Two walkie-talkie carrying and balaclava-clad armed robbers have been found guilty of a series of robberies and firearms offences whilst driving around on a stolen bike stealing cash boxes from guards.
Elton John, 51, of Brockley Road, Brockley, and Mark Ruddock, 46, of Linden Court, Linden Grove, Peckham, were found guilty at Woolwich Crown Court on today (11) of five robberies of cash boxes in Welling, Blackheath and West Wickham.
The pair were arrested on October 9 2009, while driving round south-east London, with a loaded handgun, on a stolen motorbike, looking for cash in transit vans to rob before they were arrested in Downham. John and Ruddock were found guilty of conspiracy to commit robbery and unlawful possession of a firearm with intent to commit an indictable offence following five robberies... '
Well I'm sure the robberies were no joke for the staff at the Co-op on Shooters Hill Road (among other places), but you've got to have some sympathy for a man in prison with a name like that, even if previous highway robbers on that stretch of road fared much worse - Shooters Hill Police Station was apparently built on the site of the old gallows.
Anyway here's an appropriate song by his namesake (from the soundtrack of the lovely film Elizabethtown):
Sorry to comment anonymously but I've encountered this man. He is vile and any sympathy is utterly wasted.
ReplyDeleteFair enough, with a name like that I couldn't resist being flippant. But my real sympathy is for the poor minimum wage security guards having a guns stuck in their face.
ReplyDeleteI am from Brockley and a retired armed robber who got sentenced to 17yrs in the 1990`s. Went to school with Elton John and he is a decent bloke a true legend. The credit doesn't belong to the critics who point out where a good man stumbled, the credit belongs to the man in the areana fighting for survival. God bless you Elton and hope your journey is a smooth one. Cat A
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