Anger as robber carrying knife is spared jail for pub and garage raids

Matthew Holland robbed the New Inn on Pen Street on 30 November while carrying a knife, and the John Adams Way Esso Service Station early on 1 December while he was in possession of a cleaver.

He was sentenced at Lincoln Crown Court to two years imprisonment, suspended for two years, after admitting two counts of robbery and two counts of having a bladed article.

Holland, 31, was also given a 30 hour rehabilitation order and 150 hours of unpaid community service.

But Dean Gross, who runs the New Inn with his wife Donna, has been left outraged by the sentencing.

He is planning to meet Boston MP Matt Warman later this week to raise the issue and is looking at ways of having the sentence reviewed legally.

He told the Boston Standard: “I’m not happy with it at all. Think it’s downright disgusting. Everyone is just in shock. He was caught with a knife in two premises just a few hours apart.”

He said the barmaid who was on her own at the time of the robbery had been left terrified after the robbery last December.

“I’ve got a barmaid absolutely petrified now. I Can’t leave her on her own.

“I know a prison sentence wouldn’t have changed how she is, but it would at least let her feel justice has been done.”

Dean and the barmaid were notified of the sentence in a letter from Lincolnshire Police Victim Support officers, and Dean says the police have been great with them.

But he is furious about the sentencing imposed by the court.

“The Government is supposed to be clamping down on knife crime. What message is this sending out to people?”, he said.

Mr Gross, who says they have not received anything back for the £500 Holland took, is now planning to investigate what his options are for getting the sentence reviewed, and says he is meeting Mr Warman later this week.

“The money is the least of the problems as far as I’m concerned, but I feel as though we are the ones who’ve been punished when its someone who’s come along and taken our property.”

Detective Chief Superintendent Steve Taylor, Lincolnshire Police Head of Crime, said: “Last week we launched our violent crime reduction initiative which aims to reduce the number of violent offences in Lincolnshire.

“That work focuses on reduction and prevention, supporting victims, and engaging with partners to reduce harm in our communities.

“We appreciate that any violent offence can have a profound effect - and that’s whether you’re a victim or it happened in the community where you live or work, and we are investing more in tackling these types of offences. We will continue to work with our communities and act on intelligence to try and reduce violent offences and bring offenders to justice.”