13/04/11……Duo jailed for Thame jewellery store robbery

A MAN and a woman have been jailed for their role in an armed robbery at a jewellery store in Thame.

Kalum Lamptey, aged 23, and Katy Brown, aged 24, were both jailed at Oxford Crown Court in connection with the robbery at Robert Gatward Jewellers in High Street, Thame, on April 15, 2010.

During the robbery, a car pulled up outside the jewellers carrying three people, including Lamptey, who acted as the getaway driver. The car, a Peugeot 407, had been stolen during a burglary in Leighton Buzzard, Bedfordshire.

Two men armed with hammers then entered the store and smashed display cabinets stealing a quantity of rings. The robbers then drove to near-by Long Crendon, where they abandoned the stolen Peugeot and drove away in two other cars stolen during a burglary in Milton Keynes.

During the raid, a male member of staff was punched and was taken to the John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford where he was later discharged.

Lamptey, of Dudley Street, Leighton Buzzard, admitted a charge of robbery, and was sentenced to five years and three months imprisonment on March 10, while his girlfriend Brown, of Taylors Rise, Leighton Buzzard, Bedfordshire, who detectives established had gone into the jewellery store a few days before the robbery to reconnoitre the scene, was found guilty of aiding and abetting robbery following a trial at Oxford Crown Court. She was sentenced April 1.

Investigating officer Det Sgt Alun Watkins, of South Oxfordshire CID, said: ?I am enormously grateful to all the witnesses who were present in the High Street, Thame, and in Long Crendon on the morning of the robbery and who took the time to pass on vital pieces of information that allowed us to catch and convict these two criminals.?

PHOTO: Police investigating the scene of the crime shortly after the robbery at Gatwoods, Thame, in April 2010.