Transcript

DS SUND

Right, I understand that the two of you witnessed an incident. Look it's very important that you don't talk to one another about what happened, so I'll be interviewing you later at the police station, but for now I want to ask each of you separately for an initial statement and Lila, I realise this must have been very stressful for you and I don't want to cause you any more anxiety, but I need to get this initial statement so that we can begin our investigation, so please just take your time and in your own words can you describe to me what you saw.

LILA

Can I just start by saying that I remember the number plate of the car. It was NG58 VXW, I made a real effort to remember it, I had a very good view of it and I've got a great memory so I'm pretty sure that's correct.

I remember hearing shouting and seeing 3 men with guns attacking a security van, there was a scuffle between one of the men and one of the guards. That man didn't have a mask, but the others did. All of them had dark jackets and camouflage trousers.

One of them ran over to us and fired his gun, before that though the unmasked robber force one of the guards to the ground, he had a case, you know attached to his wrist by a chain, and the guy started cutting through it to take the case. I guess it was carrying money.

DS SUND

Hang on, was that when the car came?

LILA

It all seemed to happen at once, you know two of them were stealing the case the third was grabbing and shouting at Liz and a car came speeding towards us, or was the car already there? No, no the car pulled up because I remember seeing the number plate and knowing I had to try and remember it.

Then the driver jumped out, he wasn't wearing a mask, he was shouting at the others. I think he was shouting that they should grab Liz, was that when the other man ran to her? anyway after the man had grabbed Liz they all ran back to the car and drove off. The number plate was definitely NG58 VXW.

DS SUND

And you said there was an unmasked robber, can you give me a description?

LILA

Well male obviously, he was the one fighting with the guard, he may have be wearing a hat to start with, you know like a riot hat with a big plastic screen almost like a crash helmet, yeah I think he was, but then it got knocked off when he was struggling with the guard.

He looked young to me, you know probably early 20s, say 22. He had thick curly hair that went down to his shoulders, and he wasn't white. Asian, possibly Spanish or Italian? No I think he was Asian, no definitely Indian looking, he was probably 5 foot 3, definitely wasn't fat, but I think he was stocky.

DS SUND

Can you show me how tall he was compared to the van, if you point to where you think his head came to?

LILA

About here, yeah I think that's right. Well actually I suppose now that I can see that I'm having to reach up quite a bit, he must of been quite a bit taller than me, what's that about 6 inches above my head? Yeah that seems right, well let's say it was more like 5 foot 9 then.

DS SUND

Okay thanks, so, right you also said the driver of the car did not have a mask, can you give me a description of him?

LILA

I think he was quite tall, he was definitely white and older than the other guy, say early 30s perhaps. He had a camouflage outfit on, I remember that because I remember thinking he looked like a soldier, you know not just his clothes, but he had short hair and a tough looking face and he was also quite muscly, maybe as tall as 6 foot 4. Yeah I know what your gonna ask me now, so ok, so he stood next to the car and I would say it came up to just beneath his shoulder, and actually looking at this car which is very similar that would mean his head would be here, and that's again about 6 inches taller than me. So he was probably 5 foot 9, weird - I would definitely have said he was taller.

DS SUND

And what about the other people, the ones wearing masks, can you describe anything about them?

LILA

I can't say much about them, but I would say they were all dressed very similarly to the unmasked robber, you know dark jackets and army trousers and, they were probably average height. Certainly not too different to the unmasked one and they were both quite stocky.

DS SUND

You remembered the number plate of the car, can you tell me anything else about it?

LILA

Like a description? It was definitely silver, I can't say what make it was, but it, you know looked quite big, new and expensive. It definitely had four doors because I saw them all opened at once, oh and it had you know one of those red brake lights in the rear window because, you know that's right. It reversed towards me and I could see the brake lights and the rear number plate and the backs of the doors when they opened. It reversed towards me just as the man grabbed Liz. I was thinking maybe it had to have been there all along but, you know now I remember the brake light, I remember it reversing towards us as they grabbed Liz.

DS SUND

Thank you Lila that's been really helpful, right I'm going to give this information to my colleague so we can start looking for the car and the people involved in the incident and I will speak to you again at the station, in the mean time please remember not to discuss the event with the other witnesses.