Armed men rob service stetion

Press, 19 April 1982, Page 1

Armed men rob service stetion

Two masked gunmen who were both “shaking like a leaf,” held up a Linwood service station at gunpoint early on Saturday morning and escaped with only about 570In their haste to flee from the Gainsborough Service Station, Linwood Avenue, the two men dropped $265 on the forecourt and nearby road. Mr Murray Jackways, the only person working at the garage at the time, said he walked through to the front of the service station about 3 a.m. to be confronted by the two men wearing balaclavatype masks and carrying shotguns. Mr Jackways was made to lie on the floor while one of the men tried to open the till. “I was not all that worried really,” Mr Jackways said. “In fact, I think they were

more worried than I was because they were both shaking like a leaf.” The till was finally opened and the two men crammed all the notes into their pockets. They did not have a bag to carry their loot. “They pushed me into another room and told me to stay there else they would blow my head off,” he said. Three telephones were ripped from their sockets before the pair dashed for their car, dropping money as they ran. As they left, Mr Jackways heard a shotgun blast and the sound of glass breaking. Two shots were fired into the front window, spraying pellets round the interior. ..“When I saw them with the guns I wondered if they were loaded, but when they out the blast through the

window I had my answer. At the time it did not worry me much, but last night (Saturday) I had some trouble getting to sleep. “It all happened so quickly I did not get the chance to worry too much,” he said. The incident lasted about five minutes. Detective Senior-Sergeant R. A. Meikle, of the Christchurch C. 1.8., said the robbers left a telephone connected and so Mr Jackways was able to call the police. Both robbers were probably in their early 20s, about 183 cm (6ft) tall and of slim build. Both wore faded blue jeans. One was wearing a jacket, fawn soft-leather shoes, and tan gloves with zips on the sides. The other wore running shoes.