[T]hree men have been jailed after police dog Paddy chased the attempted robbers through Wigan.
On Tuesday 30 January 2018, the trio were sentenced at Bolton Crown Court to a collective 16 years in prison after pleading guilty to attempted robbery offences.
Michael Clark (19/08/1989) of Chapel Fields Lane, Hindley has been sentenced to 5 years and 4 months for attempted robbery.
Jack Floweth-Brown (15/07/1996) of Lily Lane, Bamfurlong has been sentenced to 5 years and 4 months for attempted robbery and being carried in a stolen motor vehicle.
Leon Hardaker (22/09/1996) of Christmas Street, Liverpool has been sentenced to 5 years and 7 months for attempted robbery and theft of a motor vehicle.
In the early hours of Friday 1 July 2016, a couple who run a mobile catering business arrived at their home in Shevington.
As they were unloading their car, the woman had gone into the house and heard her husband shouting outside.
When she went to see what was happening, she saw three masked men carrying a hammer, a gas canister and a baseball bat, threatening her husband.
These men tried to take clothing and money from the couples’ car, before the woman managed to chase them off.
By this time officers had arrived at the scene and were helped by a passing taxi driver, who stopped and showed them which direction the offenders had fled.
Police dog Paddy was deployed and found clothing and a gas canister which belonged to the offenders.
At the same time, plain clothed officers saw Hardaker, Floweth-Brown and Clark walking along a road nearby, who had clearly been down the same wet and muddy path as the dog.
All three were then arrested on suspicion of attempted robbery.
Detective Constable Suzanne Rigby of GMP’s Wigan borough, said: “This couple were determined to stop their hard-earned money being stolen, and their quick-thinking paid off.
“Both the taxi driver and police dog Paddy, deserve a huge thanks, as it is down to them that we were able to get these men off the street so quickly.
“These three men came to the couples’ home, in the early hours of the morning, and tried to take what they had worked so hard for.
“I hope knowing that these men will spend the next five years behind bars goes some way to make up for the terror they suffered at the trio’s hands.”
