webpic25-year-old formally cleared of plot to rob Swadlincote Tesco store
A MAN has been cleared of taking part in a dramatic armed robbery at a bank in which a digger was used to smash a hole in the wall.
A jury at Warwick Crown Court also formally found Leon Dyer not guilty of being involved in a plot to rob G4S guards delivering cash to Tesco Express, in Hearthcote Road, Swadlincote.
Dyer, 25, of Barnesville Close, Small Heath, Birmingham, had denied conspiring to rob staff at the HSBC bank in Atherstone in June last year and conspiring to rob G4S ‘cash in transit’ guards.
He also denied possessing an imitation firearm at the time of the HSBC raid and at the time of an attempted robbery at the Tesco Express store.
After considering the case for almost eight hours, the jury found him not guilty of taking part in the HSBC robbery and the associated imitation firearm charge.
On the directions of the judge, as a result of legal submissions at the end of the prosecution case, the jury also entered not guilty verdict on the other two charges Dyer faced.
Other defendants, Karl White, 27, of Marie Close, Atherstone; and James Kennea, 26, of Chilvers Grove, Kingshurst, Solihull, who have also denied conspiring to commit the HSBC robbery and the related imitation firearm charge.
White, Kennea and Leigh Barry, 27, of Orchard Road, Erdington, Birmingham, also deny conspiring to rob G4S personnel and having an imitation firearm during the Tesco Express raid.
The jury has not been able to reach verdicts on those three defendants in relation to any of those charges, and will resume their deliberations today.
