A man who held up a travel agency by claiming to have a gun in his pocket then fled abroad and went on to commit similar crimes overseas – eventually being nabbed because he had made an incredibly foolish blunder, a court has heard.
Ian Jowett, 55, of no fixed address, was jailed for six years for holding up a travel agency in the southern English seaside city of Brighton – but his arrest came only after he had committed similar offences in Europe and been jailed for them there.
The original crime took place in late 2018, when a man (later found to be Jowett) entered a TUI travel agency in Brighton and approached the counter with a handwritten note that said: “Pass the money, I am not joking. I have a gun pointed at you, don’t mess about”.
A travel consultant, believing it was a genuine threat, handed over a wad of cash – reportedly GBP 1700 (about AUD 3200) – “before the suspect calmly left the store”, Sussex Police said.
That’s when Jowett made his big mistake. After the stress of the robbery, he felt like a drink. With plenty of money in his pocket, he popped into a nearby pub.
There, “he left his bag containing personal papers including his birth certificate,” Sussex Police revealed. The bag “also contained some rolled-up paper, believed to be used to imitate a gun in his pocket.”
From then on, the jig was up. The police, with his birth certificate, quickly identified the suspect as Ian Jowett, 55, from Peterborough, England.
Ian Jowett. Photo: Sussex Police
A few days later, Jowett left England in a hurry, boarding a ferry from Hull to Rotterdam.
“He committed similar offences in the Netherlands and Belgium, where he was imprisoned for robbery,” Sussex Police said.
“After serving his sentence, Jowett returned to the UK where he was arrested and charged with robbery and put before the courts. He pleaded guilty, and at Lewes Crown Court on 30 July, he was sentenced to six years’ imprisonment.”
Investigating officer, Detective Constable Dan Aubrey-Smith, said later: “This has been a long and complex investigation – not helped by Jowett’s attempts to evade capture – but one which we were determined to see through.
“Robbery is an extremely serious offence which we will not take lightly; anyone caught and convicted of such an offence can expect to face the full force of the law.”
Written by Peter Needham
