What a bad joke! Nailed by his own words
A robber who took part part in an armed raid on a bookmaker’s was caught because he had made a note about it in his diary.
Jonathan Ochola told police he was watching football with his brother at the time of the robbery in Portsmouth. But when officers looked at the 21-year-old’s journal, they found an entry on the day of the raid that read: ‘Go Porsmouth - robbery happens’.
Ochola helped his friend Rashad Delawala steal hundreds of pounds from a branch of Ladbrokes bookies.
Delawala admitted wearing a balaclava and threatening staff with an imitation firearm, but Ochola insisted he was at home watching the television. In fact he was the getaway driver and the pair had split the £500 takings.
Police traced the students after Delawala accidentally dropped the balaclava with a trace of his DNA on it.
Ochola, from Dagenham, Essex, was found guilty by a jury at Portsmouth Crown Court after denying one charge of robbery.
Detective Constable Mel Sinclair said: ‘When we found the diary we thought it was unusual. You don’t normally get such a good piece of evidence.
‘But he was foolish enough to put it in his diary and he said in his interview that it was stupid.’
The men are due to be sentenced later this month.
Robber writes up crime in his diary
What a bad joke! Nailed by his own words
A robber who took part part in an armed raid on a bookmaker’s was caught because he had made a note about it in his diary.
Jonathan Ochola told police he was watching football with his brother at the time of the robbery in Portsmouth. But when officers looked at the 21-year-old’s journal, they found an entry on the day of the raid that read: ‘Go Porsmouth - robbery happens’.
Ochola helped his friend Rashad Delawala steal hundreds of pounds from a branch of Ladbrokes bookies.
Delawala admitted wearing a balaclava and threatening staff with an imitation firearm, but Ochola insisted he was at home watching the television. In fact he was the getaway driver and the pair had split the £500 takings.
Police traced the students after Delawala accidentally dropped the balaclava with a trace of his DNA on it.
Ochola, from Dagenham, Essex, was found guilty by a jury at Portsmouth Crown Court after denying one charge of robbery.
Detective Constable Mel Sinclair said: ‘When we found the diary we thought it was unusual. You don’t normally get such a good piece of evidence.
‘But he was foolish enough to put it in his diary and he said in his interview that it was stupid.’
The men are due to be sentenced later this month.
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