A PREGNANT WOMAN HAD A FAKE GUN PUT TO HER CHEEK

A PREGNANT WOMAN HAD A FAKE GUN PUT TO HER CHEEK AND A
KITCHEN KNIFE HELD AT HER BACK AS THREE PEOPLE BUNGLED A RAID ON A
JEWELLRY SHOP, THE OLD BAILEY HEARD.

AND UNKNOWN TO HER THE RAID WAS MASTERMINDED BY ONE OF HER OWN
COLLEAGUES.

THREE PEOPLE, ONE A JUVENILE, PLEADED GUILTY ON THURSDAY TO
ROBBERY AND POSSESSING A DART-FIRING AIRGUN.

RAJ KUMAR BAGGA, 22, WAS WORKING AT SAUNDERS’ JEWELLERS IN
HIGH ROAD, WEMBLEY WHEN ON MARCH 13 LAST YEAR.

ACCORDING TO PLAN HE LET HIS GIRLFRIEND, MANJULA PATEL, 20,
AND RAJESH PATEL, 16, INTO THE SHOP BY THE BACK DOOR AFTER CLOSING
TIME.

THE TWO PATELS, UNRELATED, WERE DISGUISED WITH STOCKINGS AND
BALACLAVAS.

THEY THREATENED BOTH BAGGA AND THE MANAGERESS, MRS
BHARTI DASANI, 34, WITH THE KNIFE AND THE GUN.

MRS DASANI WAS TAKEN INTO THE BASEMENT AND TIED TIED HER TO A
METAL POST, SAID MR BRENDAN FINUCANE, PROSECUTING.

AFTER EMPTING DISPLAY CABINETS BAGGI OPENED THE SAFE.

BUT AS HE DID A RED LIGHT FLASHED ON.

EVEN THOUGH NOT AN ALARM THE ROBBERS PANICKED AND FLED WITHOUT
ANY OF THE STOLEN GOODS WHICH WERE VALUED AT #10,000.

BAGGI REMAINED IN THE SHOP AND CONTINUED TO PLAY OUT HIS ROLE
BY GOING TO THE POLICE STATION WITH MRS DASANI.

BUT OFFICERS SOON SAW THROUGH HIS STORY AND HE BAGGI, OF
BRIDGEWATER ROAD, ALPERTON, CONFESSED TO EVERYTHING.

MR FINUCANE CALLED THE PLAN ‘A HOPELESS IDEA’.

RAJESH PATEL HAD AGREED TO THE PLAN.

‘HE INTENDED TO GIVE
THE MONEY TO HIS SISTER AT UNIVERSITY BECAUSE HER GRANT IS SO LOW’,
CONTINUED COUNSEL.

MR MICHAEL KEANE, DEFENDING, SAID: ‘MANJULA PATEL SUCCUMBED TO
A SLOW PROCESS OF PERSUASION’ FROM HER BOYFRIEND.

EVERYONE AGREED THAT BAGGI WAS THE ‘PRIME MOVER’ IN THE
DISASTROUS PLAN.

RECORDER LORD HOOSON, QC, TOLD ALL THREE: ‘A VICIOUS
IMMATURITY HAS EXPRESSED ITSELF.

‘
HE PASSED WHAT HE FELT TO BE MINIMUM SENTENCES FOR THE
OFFENCES.

BAGGI WAS SENTENCED TO TWO YEARS IMPRISONMENT, WITH 18 MONTHS
SUSPENDED.

LORD HOOSON DEFERRED SENTENCE ON THE TWO PATELS FOR
SIX MONTHS.

MANJULA PATEL,OF SWINDERBY ROAD, WEMBLEY, IS NOW WORKING AS A
SECRETARY IN A JEWELLERS.

RAJESH PATEL, OF WESTBURY ROAD, WEMBLEY, IS
STILL AT SCHOOL.

ENDS
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