Henley Green post office boss staged robbery at his own shop

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A Coventry post office boss staged a £120,000 robbery at his own shop in an elaborate plot to pay off a debt.

Rajinder Ghatora, aged 43, and his cousin Inderjit Ghatora, 35, hatched a plan to ransack the post office in Broad Park Road, Henley Green.

They then tried to cover their tracks by setting up complex alibis and removing shop CCTV footage.

But another CCTV camera - set up to combat anti-social behaviour in the area - caught the duo outside the shop moments before the violent raid.

The footage showed Inderjit and Rajinder together moments before the 35-year-old burst inside, threatening an innocent shop assistant, who had tape put over his mouth and a box placed on his head.

Rajinder was also inside the shop when the robbery took place.

He pretended to be a terrified victim but when he tried to convince jurors he wasn’t a part of the scam they saw through his lies.

Today (Thursday) Rajinder and Inderjit were both jailed for a total of 17 years at Birmingham Crown Court.

The court heard that Rajinder, of Anley Way, Radford, had opened the time-delay safe at the post office 40 minutes before the robbery, in February 2012.

Inderjit posed as a construction worker, using a hard hat to conceal his identity and stashing the cash in an empty tool box.

Matthew Barnes, prosecuting, said: “When Inderjit entered the post office he issued threats to Rajinder, who was pretending to be afraid, and the shop assistant.

“Inderjit told the assistant he knew where he lived and they were forced into a stock room.

“He requested that Rajinder tie up the shop assistant. There was tape over various parts of his anatomy and a box placed over his head.

“The shop assistant was terrified. He thought he was going to die.

“He broke down when he described in court the fear that he wasn’t going to see his family again.

“There was an implied threat of the use of a knife.’’

Detectives searched Inderjit’s home and found £64,820.

Inderjit gave a false alibi for the robbery, claiming he had been looking at a second hand van at the time.

He even roped in a third cousin - Harinder Ghatora, aged 25 - to back up his story.

Harinder gave a detailed account to police, but when officers looked at mobile phone records they could prove that both Inderjit and Harinder were in the area of the robbery just before it took place.

Harinder, of Humber Avenue, Stoke, later pleaded guilty to perverting the course of justice. He was found not guilty of robbery.

Inderjit, of Franciscan Road, Cheylesmore, admitted a charge of robbery on the first day of his trial.

Rajinder was found guilty of robbery and perverting the course of justice.

Sentencing Rajinder to nine years and Inderjit to eight years Judge Melbourne Inman QC said: “This was a professionally planned robbery where somebody was tied up and thought they were going to die.

“There was a gross breach of trust.This certainly had the hallmarks of a sophisticated commercial robbery.”

Harinder was given an eight-month prison sentence, suspended for two years.

Rajinder was in charge of the post office at the time of the offence but his wife was the postmaster.

He continues to deny he was involved in the robbery.