G4S driver sentenced for stealing nearly £1m in cash from van
Written by News on 27/07/2019
A driver for security firm G4S has been jailed for more than four years for stealing nearly £1m in cash from one of the firm’s vans.
Joel March, 36, of Rectory Grove in Clapham, admitted theft and concealing the proceeds of crime and was sentenced to four years and eight months.
Prosecutors said March had arrived for work on 23 April this year and picked up his van – which contained 48 containers containing £916,190.
Rather than delivering them around the Holborn area of London, the father-of-three drove the van to Larkhill Rise in Clapham.
He then ditched the vehicle and fled with the cash.
Forty-three of the 48 deposit boxes were found missing from the van.
Prosecutor Alex Agbamu told a hearing at Inner London Crown Court in May: “The total amount is around the £900,000 mark – £880,000 is still missing and unaccounted for.”
G4S used a spare key to get into the abandoned van and saw that March had left behind his personal and work phone, and also his body armour.
The keys to the armoured van were still in the ignition.
March was arrested the next day at a property in Clapham, where the police found £28,600 in cash.
The morning before he was arrested, March spent around £1,400 on clothes and shoes from a JD Sports shop, according to prosecutors.
Defence solicitor Michael Hillman said his client had racked up about £10,000 in debt, had a history of mental health problems and had become “disillusioned” with his employer.
He added: “He felt they did not appreciate the stress he was put under, the daily risk of being victim of cash in transit robberies.
“This theft was a spontaneous decision under great stress.”
Judge Usha Karu said it was a “very high breach of trust” and refused to accept that the theft was an “impulsive spur of the moment” act.
(c) Sky News 2019: G4S driver sentenced for stealing nearly £1m in cash from van
