A man who calmly told staff at a Carphone Warehouse 'I'm going to rob you now' before taking mobile phones worth over £40,000 has been jailed. Marin Dumitru threatened to stab three members of staff as he carried out the robbery at the store in Victoria Retail Park in Netherfield back in October 2018.
22-year-old Dumitru went on to flee the country, heading to Romania and then Germany, before an international arrest warrant was executed and he was eventually brought back to the UK. When he carried out the robbery, Dumitru was on bail for stealing thousands of pounds worth of mobile phones in Winchester back in March 2018, carrying out two daring thefts on the same day - both at 02 stores where he stole iPhones and Samsungs.
Then, on October 11, he arrived at the Carphone Warehouse with an accomplice - first posing as a customer before revealing to staff that this was a robbery. He had visited the store on multiple occasions in the two weeks prior, Nottingham Crown Court was told, preparing to steal thousands of pounds worth of phones.
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Judge Warbuton QC, told him at Nottingham Crown Court: "It was about 12.15pm when you went into the store together with another individual. You went in posing as customers and you asked if the phones could be removed from the security measures to have a good look at them. Staff explained that they were unable to do that because of a recent robbery - at that point you responded, 'well I'm going to rob you now.
"You asked [staff] to open the till draw, nothing was taken but the two of you started pulling phones from the display. At that point you noticed a colleague in the back office and you asked [the staff member] to tell him to open the door. You then went into the back office where two other employees were present and demanded that one of them opened the safe, making reference to having a knife and moving your hands towards your trousers."
The safe was eventually opened and when it was opened by the fearful staff he filled bin liners with boxed mobile phones - he and the other man then left via the front entrance with a haul of around 80 phones and fled in a car.
A manhunt was quickly launched by police and the car was later found abandoned nearby - it was found to be insured under Dumitru's name. Following a forensic examination, Dumitru's fingerprints were found on the mobile phone display and the safe in the office.
Dumitru, of Bankdale Road, Birmingham, pleaded guilty to a charge of robbery and two charges of theft as he was jailed for three years and 10 months at Nottingham Crown Court on Friday, March 25. He sobbed as he appeared via video link from HMP Nottingham.
The court was told that Dumitru had, since the offences, become a father, and reflected on his crimes while in 23-hour a day isolation in Germany - only seeing his now seven-month old daughter twice since returning to the UK.
Judge Warbuton added: "You have expressed remorse for the offences and I have read the letter that you wrote personally, taking responsibility for your own actions and expressing the extent to which you are sorry and you feel that you have let down and your family generally."
Police Investigator Adam Karimjee, of Nottinghamshire Police, said: “Dumitru tried everything to evade being caught after committing this terrifying crime so I’m delighted he has now been brought to justice. It's taken a lot of tenacious work to achieve this result and I hope it shows how Nottinghamshire Police teams will work relentlessly alongside partners to track down offenders and bring them before the courts – even if they have left the country.
“Unfortunately there wasn’t enough evidence to charge the second suspect but our determined and tireless work in this investigation enabled us to catch a dangerous offender and bring him to account for this appalling crime. I hope it also shows how the force treats all reports of robbery with the utmost seriousness and how we will always exhaust every line of enquiry in order to apprehend suspects and bring offenders to account for their actions.”
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