Jail For Self-proclaimed Royston Gangster

A self-proclaimed “gangster” from Royston who robbed a shop twice in four months, taking more than £20,000 cash and goods, has been jailed.

Troy Aldous, 22, of Newman Avenue, Royston, committed the first robbery on the One Stop shop and Post Office, in Meldreth, on 9 August, 2018. He entered the shop in High Street at about 9.40pm with an accomplice, who pointed a handgun at two members of staff and asked them open the safes.

The pair made off with more than £13,000 worth of stolen items and damaged a CCTV data storage unit to cover their tracks.

On 7 January this year, Aldous and an accomplice once again entered the shop and threatened two members of staff with a black handgun. Once again, the pair got away with a number of items, including £5,262 in cash, 1,813 in euros, £930 worth of scratch cards and £69 in coupons.

Then on 12 March, Aldous assaulted a man in Queens Road, Royston. The court heard how a verbal altercation broke out between the pair and Aldous pushed the man and kicked him in the face twice before waving a knife at him and walking away.

Finally, on 1 April, Aldous and a group of friends went to their former school, Bassingbourn Village College, to hang around the grounds. When staff challenged them and asked them to leave, Aldous became aggressive and pushed a teacher in the chest before opening a bag to reveal a handgun. Aldous then walked away and bragged, “I’m a criminal. I did the Post Office.”

Aldous pleaded guilty to both robberies and three firearms offences and was sentenced to six years and nine months in prison at Cambridge crown court.