Jail for the would-be tycoon who turned to robbery

A failed businessman who robbed a string of travel agents at gunpoint in a bid to pay off a £300,000 debt to loan sharks has been jailed for 13 years. Robert Darling, 30, targeted female cashiers at three branches of Thomson Holidays and Thomas Cook in Kent and Essex after his ticket sales company went bust. He gambled away £8,000 of his £100,000 loot at Aspers casino in Westfield Stratford City in a bid to raise more cash. Darling, who…