Robber, 22, armed with knife stole around £7,000 from shops in Staffordshire
A 22-year-old robber armed with a knife struck at seven shops in Staffordshire stealing around £7,000.
Patryk Slepowronski carried out a string of robberies at premises including in Stafford and Hixon between November 2024 and January 2025.
He went threatened staff at Co-ops, Tesco Express stores, Morrisons and One Stops before emptying the tills of cash and sometimes ordered them to open safes.
But Staffordshire Police detectives were able to identify Slepowronski from his DNA following an incident in Hixon on Christmas Eve last year.
When he was arrested officers found shop safe keys and money that had been stolen during some of the robberies.
After pleading guilty to six counts of robbery and one count of attempted robbery at an earlier hearing Slepowronski, of Marston Montgomery, Derbyshire, was jailed for 12 years at Stafford Crown Court on October 10. Some of the incidents happened at premises in Uttoxeter, Upper Tean and Bentilee, Stoke-on-Trent.
He had also pleaded guilty to eight counts of robbery, seven counts of possession of a bladed article in a public place and one count of attempted robbery for similar offences carried out in the Derbyshire area.
Pc Libby May Houston, who investigated the case, said: “Slepowronski was prolific in his offending and caused significant distress and alarm to those who were unfortunate enough to be faced with him in these robberies.
“It is not lost on us the emotional effect having a knife pointed at you can have on the victims in these incidents. We’ve worked hard to identify Slepowronski, despite his attempts to conceal his identity, and bring him to justice.”
