Woman tells of terrifying daylight robbery

May 19 2011 by Debbie Hall, West Lothian Courier

robbery

A GRAN told this week of the terrifying moment masked robbers smashed her car window and threatened her with a metal bar.

Audrey Connor (46), manageress of Fauldhouse Masonic Lodge, had put £4000 – the club’s takings plus some of her holiday money – in the back of her car and was about to drive to the bank when the two men carried out a smash-and-grab raid in broad daylight.

John Callaghan (42) of Bridge Street, Fauldhouse and Gary Middleton (35) of Quarry Street, Shotts denied being the masked bandits but a jury at the High Court in Edinburgh found them guilty of assault and robbery.

A third man, Matthew Laird (25), also from Shotts, was cleared during the trial.

Judge Lord Pentland called for background reports before the men appear for sentence in Aberdeen next month and remanded them in custody, warning they faced significant jail sentences.

Audrey told the Courier this week that the frightening incident had stayed with her and she still feels vulnerable.

“The worst part is I would normally have had my four-month-old grandson Kerr in his car seat next to the window that was smashed,” she said.

“They didn’t even look through the window to check if anyone was there.

“If he had been in his seat he would have been left with the physical scars while I have the psychological scars.”

Audrey, who has run the bar at Lodge of St John in Bridge Street for seven years, told how she had been getting ready to go to the bank with a friend who usually went with her.

She saw the masked men running towards her gold Renault Laguna as she stood chatting on the pavement just after 9am on Monday, March 8, last year.

One had a Rangers scarf across his face, another wore a balaclava mask and a third had the hood of his jacket pulled tight to hide his features and the incident was captured on CCTV camera.

Audrey said: “Reliving it and hearing it all over again in court was upsetting; not that it’s ever left my memory.

“I’m glad they will likely spend a long time in jail.

“It’s been really hard and has taken away my self-confidence, I still won’t go out and walk the dog by myself and I think it’s made worse by the fact that I knew one of them – he’s from Fauldhouse.

“I had the same routine of going round to the bank with the takings with my friend and unbeknown to us we were being watched.

“I don’t think anyone knows how upsetting this kind of thing is unless it happens to you.”