Hoods: The Gangs of Nottingham, A Study in Organised Crime by Fellstrom Carl

Author:Fellstrom, Carl [Fellstrom, Carl]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
ISBN: 9781908479136
Publisher: Milo Books Ltd
Published: 2012-04-17T22:00:00+00:00

IN LATE SEPTEMBER 2003, a young Scot sat in a pub being lectured by a tall, burly, shaven-headed man in a Lacoste tracksuit top. The young man quietly took in the message as the shaven-headed man explained his plan to rob a jewellery shop. He had recently lost a £70,000 cocaine shipment and needed some quick cash to pay off the suppliers. The young man had already carried out several armed robberies for him in the past few weeks, three of them over a single twelve-hour period. During one raid he had discharged the gun he was carrying to frighten the victims. The same day he had also been part of a gang of men who brutally attacked dreadlocked social worker Derrick Senior while he was enjoying a pint with a friend in the Lord Nelson pub in Bulwell.

The shaven-headed man knew the Scottish lad was a hothead and sometimes a liability, but he could groom him, he thought. He would try to buy off the Rastafarian social worker with a bribe but for now he needed this robbery carrying out. Two other men working for the gang had already reconnoitred the shop and decided which jewellery cabinet to target. The shaven-headed man stressed that he did not want anybody killed.

According to an account later given to the police by one of those involved, and outlined to a judge in legal submissions before trial, the burly man was Colin Gunn and the young man James Brodie, one of his underlings. They were planning the robbery of the Time Centre in Arnold, Nottingham, run by Victor and Marian Bates. The robbery would involve a four-man team led by Brodie. In the getaway vehicle would be Dean Betton, and driver Craig Moran. Peter Williams, the youngest member of the gang at just seventeen, would carry a crowbar and assist Brodie. A high-powered scanner would help the gang to monitor police radio messages. The robbery was set for 30 September.

Peter Williams would later tell police that Gunn continued to outline the plan, ordering Brodie to park his scooter up an alleyway and to make sure there were no customers in the shop when they entered. Brodie nodded, listening almost reverently. Gunn, said Williams, was adamant that he did not want any shooting, but Brodie was a loose cannon; who knew what he might do?

On the morning of 30 September, Victor and Marian Bates made their way into Arnold, taking the road from the village of Ravenshead. Victor was sixty-five and Marian sixty-four. Their jewellery store had a bit of early trade but by 11am only a handful of customers had come into the shop: a woman looking for a watch for her husband, a couple who browse through the engagement rings before leaving empty-handed, another man looking for a some special earrings for a girlfriend. The shop was empty when, at about 1.30pm, two young men wearing motorcycle crash helmets with the visors up and rucksacks on their backs burst in. Xanthe Bates,

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