Would-be robber killed accomplice in crash

A drink driver who tried to rob a village shop and then killed his accomplice in a botched getaway dash has been jailed.

Sonny Loveridge, 26, drove a silver Ford Focus to the One Stop, in Park Road, Manea, near March, at about 7.10pm on Sunday, 22 October, 2023.

His masked accomplice, John Hayden, 36, got out of the car and walked into the shop holding a metal bar.

Pictured: Sonny Loveridge, 26. 

Hayden confronted the shopkeeper and said: “Give me everything what [sic] is in the till, I have another person in the car and I will bring him in.”

The shopkeeper locked himself and his mother behind the tills, denying Hayden access to the money.

Hayden left empty-handed and the victims were uninjured but shaken.

Loveridge drove off with Hayden but crashed the Focus into a ditch in Byall Fen Drove, near Chatteris, at about 7.20pm.

Hayden was thrown from the car and pronounced dead at the scene while Loveridge suffered minor injuries and was taken to hospital.

He was also to be found over the legal limit for alcohol and the Focus had cloned number plates.

On Friday (1 November), at Peterborough Crown Court, Loveridge, of Stretham Station Road, Wilburton, was jailed for 11 years and eight months, having pleaded guilty to attempted robbery and causing death by driving without due care and attention whilst unfit through drink at an earlier hearing.

He had also pleaded guilty to a robbery at a shop in Wickhambrook, Suffolk, in February 2023.

Loveridge was also banned from driving for 15 years and 10 months.

DC Pete Wise said: “Loveridge is a dangerous individual who had already carried out a violent robbery before attempting to rob the shop in Manea.

“Not only this, he drove after drinking and killed his accomplice, so I’m glad he’s been jailed for a long time.”