PRESS RELEASE : Audacious duo (Shay Hollis and Deon-Dre Rogers-Barrett) who tried to steal judge’s motorbike from court grounds sentenced [December 2022]

Two teenagers who tried to steal a judge’s £15,000 high performance motorbike from the grounds of Snaresbrook Crown Court have been sentenced.

[A] Shay Hollis, 18 (30.03.04), of Harrow Drive, Enfield and [B] Deon-Dre Rogers-Barrett, 19 (20.06.03), of Ashdown Road, Enfield appeared at Wood Green Crown Court on Friday, 2 December.

Rogers-Barrett was sentenced to 21 months’ imprisonment suspended for 18 months. He was ordered to complete 25 days rehabilitation activity and was given a three month curfew monitored by electronic tag. He was also ordered to pay £500 compensation to the victim. He had previously pleaded guilty to robbery and not guilty to affray.

Hollis was sentenced to an 18 month supervision order. He was ordered to carry out 12 hours of unpaid work and to pay £500 compensation to the victim. He had previously pleaded guilty to robbery, criminal damage, threatening a person in a public place with an offensive weapon and affray.

The audacious incident unfolded at 14:10hrs on 16 April 2021, when Hollis and Rogers-Barrett, accompanied by a third unidentified suspect, rode into the grounds of Snaresbrook Crown Court on two mopeds.

They come across the motorcycle, a BMW R 1250GS Adventure TE Rallye worth £15,000, and quickly began trying to steal it.

They were challenged by a member of security, at which point Hollis produced a machete and threatened him. Fearing he’d be seriously injured, the guard fled inside the building and the pair began pushing the motorcycle away from the courthouse.

However they found they were trapped inside the grounds after security staff shut the gates.

They then dumped the motorcycle, causing several thousand pounds worth of damage, and discarded their own mopeds, helmets, angle grinder and the machete, before climbing over fencing and fleeing on foot.

Police were called and responded immediately. An area search was conducted but the suspects could not be found.

The discarded items were seized, forensically examined, and an investigation was quickly started by officers from the Met’s Operation Venice. One of the discarded mopeds was found to be registered and insured to Rogers-Barrett, while the other items were forensically linked to him and Hollis following specialist analysis.

Both were arrested on 27 May 2021.

Rogers-Barrett had called police 90 minutes after the robbery to falsely report that he was robbed at knife point of his own moped and mobile phone before the robbery at Snaresbrook. Investigators proved this didn’t happen by reviewing CCTV from the falsely reported robbery location and recovering the same phone he reported stolen from his home address upon arrest.

He denied knowing Hollis at all in interview but officers were able to retrieve images of Hollis from his mobile phone.

Distinctive clothing worn by Hollis during the offence was found following a search of his home address.

Both were charged and remanded in custody.

The third suspect has not been identified.

PC Ian Croxford, from the Met’s Operation Venice, said: “This is a fine example of good police work from our team, using skills and resources from across the MPS to bring two offenders to justice.

“They were intent on stealing a valuable motorcycle in an attempt that can only be described as brazen and audacious. To ride into the grounds of a Crown Court and try this shows a flagrant disregard for the law.

“That the brave security staff who challenged them were threatened with a machete shows they were not afraid to use violence to get what they wanted.

“This should serve as a warning to anyone concerned in serious criminality that we will investigate and will use every tool at our disposal to bring you to justice.”