A man from Liverpool has been sentenced to eleven years in prison, following a cash-in-transit robbery in Ross-on-Wye last year.

John Anthony Doherty, aged 41, pleaded guilty to robbery yesterday (Wednesday, December 8th 2015) at Preston Crown Court

The sentencing follows an offence which took place at 6.20am on Friday, October 24th 2014, when a security firm attended the cash machines outside Morrisons supermarket in order to reload them.

As one of the security guards was exiting the van to transfer money, he was approached by a man who pushed him to the floor and hit him in the face, before taking the case of money from him. Another security guard sustained an ankle injury in the incident.

The offender then emptied the money from the case, ran from the scene and drove off in a car, which was later found to be a stolen vehicle from Liverpool. The car was abandoned nearby, and DNA samples were taken from the gearstick subsequently identified Doherty as a suspect.

Further detective work then revealed that Doherty returned to Liverpool on the day of the offence in a white Peugeot van, which had two different number plates. These were later found abandoned in Liverpool.

In April 2015, Doherty was arrested by police in Blackpool for committing another cash-in-transit robbery, whereby he was arrested with an accomplice making off from the offence location.

After a number of months compiling the evidence and through close liaison with Lancashire Police and Merseyside Police, John Anthony Doherty was sentenced to eleven years in prison for the robbery, to be served concurrently with eight years for the second offence.

Detective Inspector Richard Rees who was involved with the case said: "This type of offence is more prevalent at this time of year, and the outcome of Monday’s result should be a strong deterrent to criminals considering committing a serious offence like this. By working with our police colleagues from across the country, we were able to piece together the evidence and ensure that the offender was brought to justice. Thank you to all officers and police staff involved in this investigation."