Braintree: Dad calls for changes to alleyway following robbery (From Braintree and Witham Times)

Braintree: Dad calls for changes to alleyway following robbery

3:00pm Friday 30th November 2012 in News

A dad who was threatened at knifepoint is calling for action after a teenager was robbed near the same alleyway.

Christopher Moss, believes the alleyway off Bartram Avenue, Braintree, needs to either be closed off again or be better lit.

At 7.15pm last Wednesday a teenager was threatened with a 12cm kitchen knife near there and robbed of four Ralph Lauren shirts worth £280.

The alleyway is used by many schoolchildren and dog walkers and provides a cut through to places such as Marks Farm Tesco.

Mr Moss, 46, of Bartram Avenue, was targeted last year, as he walked his dog Rooney, by a man aged between 20 to 25-years-old wearing a hoody and jeans.

The would-be robber asked him if he had the time and when Mr Moss said no he was told to hand over his watch.

Mr Moss, a former doorman, said: “He pulled a knife.

“I just turned round and said to him ‘you ain’t getting nothing out of me.’ “He said ‘give me the phone’ and I said no and told him ‘if you come any closer I’ll let [my dog] off.”

The man fled and Mr Moss and his dog were unharmed.

Diana Cunday who lives nearby would not walk down the alleyway at night unless she had to.

She said: “I think they should have a security light there and I think they should have CCTV.

“A lot of school kids use the alley and they should most probably have a light halfway.”

Since last Wednesday’s robbery police have conducted door to door enquiries and delivered leaflets asking for information.

Anyone with information is asked to call Braintree police station on 101 or Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.

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