Latest news with #AshleyAsquith
RNZ News
3 hours ago
- RNZ News
UK man jailed after robbing post office armed with just a banana
Ashley Asquith. Photo: West Yorkshire Police A man who robbed a post office in Britain armed only with a banana has been jailed for more than three years. Staff handed over more than £6000 (NZ$13,500) during the February heist in Bradford, BBC News reported . The assailant, 42-year-old Ashley Asquith, wrapped the banana in a black plastic bag to look like a gun. He was initially accused of using an imitation firearm, but told the court it was just a banana inside the bag. With CCTV not proving otherwise, this explanation was accepted. The judge handing down the sentence said the banana had been held in a way that "made it look realistic". Asquith pleaded guilty to robbery and possessing an imitation firearm. The money was yet to be recovered, according to the report.
BBC News
11 hours ago
- BBC News
Banana-toting robber jailed over Bradford post office heist
A masked robber who held up a post office with a banana wrapped in a plastic bag has been jailed for three years and four Asquith, 42, brandished the bendy fruit and shouted at staff to empty the till during the raid in Allerton Road, Bradford, on 6 Crown Court heard Asquith, of Chelwood Drive, Bradford, left with more than £6,000, which is yet to be sentence Judge Jonathan Gibson KC said he had concealed the banana in such a way "to make it look realistic". The court heard the member of staff on duty at the time had been left "too scared to return to the shop" after the incident. The judge said: "They at the time thought they were the victims of an armed robbery and indeed could have been shot."CCTV footage played in court showed Asquith walk into the post office before shouting at the victim "empty the till".Prosecutors had initially suggested Asquith had been carrying an imitation firearm or something designed to resemble after Asquith told the court it was a banana the prosecution said if CCTV footage of the incident did not rule out the possibility, they would accept the defendant's Arshad, mitigating, said Asquith's behaviour could be explained by his diagnosis of emphysema, a lung condition, which he said had prevented him working as a painter and added that Asquith had been abusing alcohol and Class A drugs before the robbery. Asquith pleaded guilty to robbery and possessing an imitation firearm at a previous hearing. Listen to highlights from West Yorkshire on BBC Sounds, catch up with the latest episode of Look North.
