ONE of the three men accused of holding up the Iron Horse at Cardiff while armed with a firearm and a meat cleaver has pleaded guilty in Newcastle District Court.
Jade Allan Thompson, 33, had pleaded not guilty and was expected to face a trial alongside co-accused Benjamin Matheson and Nathan Paul.
But on Thursday he was arraigned in Newcastle District Court and pleaded guilty to armed robbery.
Charges of possession of a prohibited weapon and driving while disqualified will be taken into account when Thompson is sentenced in August. The plea means Thompson admits he was one of three men behind the hold up at the popular Cardiff pub on January 25 last year. Police say two masked men - one armed with a handgun and the other holding a meat cleaver - burst into the licensed premises on Main Road about 12.20am.
The pair threatened two employees, a 52-year-old man and 25-year-old woman, before taking more than $3000 cash and fleeing to a waiting blue Ford Falcon Sedan.
The employees were shaken but unharmed.
Initially, Lake Macquarie police investigated the robbery before the matter was referred to Robbery and Serious Crime Squad detectives who were already looking into armed robberies in the Hunter and who formed Strike Force Hawksview.
Thompson was the first to be arrested, police finding him at Wallsend during sweeping raids on the night of the robbery. They also seized a number of items, including a silencer.
Mr Paul was arrested at Mayfield about five days later and has since pleaded not guilty to the Iron Horse Inn armed robbery and a hold up at the Boatrowers Hotel at Stockton.
It was about 11.30pm on June 26, 2019, when two masked men armed with a firearm and a tomahawk walked into the pub in Fullerton Street, Stockton and threatened and assaulted employees.
The men demanded money from the till and other items from staff, before fleeing the location in a stolen vehicle which was later found burnt out on Pitt Street.
Two employees suffered minor injuries during the incident but have since recovered.
Mr Matheson has pleaded not guilty to the Iron Horse armed robbery and will face a trial alongside Mr Paul in Newcastle District Court in March, 2024.
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