A Security Express van driver drove off with pnds

A Security Express van driver drove off with pnds stlg
280,000 and later pretended to his employers and to police
he had been beaten up and robbed.

Gopalal Sunil, married with two children, pretended to cops that
he had been hi-jacked by raiders outside a post office, beaten up and
then forced to hand over the cash.

But detectives who investigated the ‘robbery’ smelt a rat when
they uncovered discrepancies in his account.

Sunil, 27, of Lexden Drive, Chadwell Heath, was found
guilty of conspiracy to steal some pnds stlg 280,000 from
Security Express.

Snaresbrook Crown Court heard that at least two other men
involved in the plot have never been brought to justice while the
enormous sum of money has never been recovered.

Passing sentence Judge Robert Southan told Sunil, of previous
good character: ‘You have been convicted of an extremely serious
offence involving over a quarter of a million pounds stolen from a
security van of which you were the driver for a security company.

‘What it involved as far as you were concerned was a carefully
planned and deliberate gross breach of trust.

‘The plan involved a fake robbery and your deception to employers
by pretending you had been beaten up by two people who robbed the van.

‘It is an absolutely disgraceful case as far as you are
concerned.

‘I bear in mind the appalling disgrace brought on your family by
your activities in this matter.

‘Activities which were deliberate, carefully planned and
ingenious.

‘The least sentence I can pass on you in view of the seriousness
of this offence is one of four years imprisonment.

‘
Smartly dressed in a suit, Indian-born Sunil showed little
emotion and smiled towards friends and relatives – including his
sobbing mother – in a packed public gallery as he was led from the
dock.

Sunil received a concurrent sentence of three months after he
admitted an offence of obtaining a pecuniary advantage by deception.

That charge related to false details he had given in his job
application to get employment with Security Express.

The jury had heard how on June 6 last year Sunil parked the
security van in Katherine Road, East Ham, while his partner made a
delivery to a post office.

It was then that he drove away with at least two other
accomplices to a spot where the money could be removed from the van,
said Mr Walter Bealby, prosecuting.

The court heard that Sunil later alleged to police that he had
been kidnapped by two men outside the post office and taken to a
nearby garage where he was beaten up and robbed.

But detectives found his injuries were not consistent with
the beating he had described.

And further detailed investigations led officers to uncover the
‘raid’ as a complete sham, although his accomplices have never been
caught.

After his arrest Sunil declined to answer police questions and
during the trial he chose not to give evidence.

Miss Kalyni Kaul, (correct) defending, said that Sunil had let
his family down.

‘He comes from an excellent family background.

The conviction
will not only hurt him but cause damage to his family’s standing in
the community.

‘
The court heard that as a younger man Sunil had tried to join the
police force but he was rejected because he was too short.

ENDS