The would-be robber burst into the News Plus convenience store in Edinburgh’s Gorgie area, brandishing a large kitchen knife at the two workers. It was 10.30pm on November 27 last year. He shouted: “Hey listen, down, down, down bro, down bro - you laughing at me?” But instead of cowering, the shopworkers laughed back. One told him: “We’ve got no money man.”
CCTV footage captured the moment Finlay Crawshaw, then 20, waved the blade in the faces of the employees. Unfazed, they continued laughing as he asked, “you’ve got no money?” and retreated empty-handed out of the store.
“Knife-wielding robber Finlay Crawshaw was laughed out of an Edinburgh shop after staff told him 'we've no money'.”
Crawshaw, originally from Bolton, Lancashire, did not give up. About 15 minutes later he made his way to Chippy Junction, a nearby takeaway along Gorgie Road. Again he brandished the red-handled knife at two employees, shouting “open the till”. The staff were forced to step back as he grabbed a handful of notes from the cash register and fled with an unknown sum.
The bungling thief’s crime spree had begun 18 days earlier, on November 9 last year. At around 6.05am, with his face covered and waving the same knife, he entered the Slateford Express store and shouted “give me all the money”. He reached over the counter and took cash and cigarettes before the assistant pressed the panic alarm and he ran.
Crawshaw appeared from custody at Edinburgh Sheriff Court on May 28 this year – his 21st birthday – and pleaded guilty to all three assault and robbery charges. He was remanded in custody and returned for sentencing on June 16.
Sheriff Kenneth Campbell KC jailed him for a total of three years. He also imposed a 12-month supervised release order, meaning Crawshaw will be monitored by authorities upon his release.
Fiscal depute Corey Laouadi told the court the details of the robberies, describing how Crawshaw was laughed out of the first shop by the two hero employees before he went on to rob the Chippy Junction. The court heard that the second and third robberies took place within 15 minutes on the evening of November 27.
Crawshaw’s attempt to rob the News Plus store had failed spectacularly – the staff simply told him there was no money in the till, and laughed him out the door. But he persisted, and now faces three years behind bars.