A robber stole luxury bags and sunglasses worth almost £50,000 during a spate of raids in the West End telling shop staff: “I’ll spray you with acid.”
Richard Dyer, 50, terrorised workers at shops across London — including Boots, Aspinal of London and Osprey — threatening them with a corrosive substance in a spray bottle.
The incidents started with a raid on Vision Express in Upper Street Islington on July 8 and ended on September 12 with a robbery of bags valued at £1,000 from Osprey in Regent Street.
In his most profitable raid he stole 90 pairs of Ray-Ban sunglasses worth £20,000 from opticians David Clulow in Victoria.
At Osprey, he sprayed ammonia at workers leaving one with a minor arm injury. The raid on the shop — Dyer’s last of eight — was captured on CCTV showing him spraying the liquid at a terrified woman before picking up designer handbags and walking off.
The court heard he also punched a Boots member of staff, injuring his eye and lip, while threatening to spray him with the contents of the small bottle.
The sentencing hearing at Southwark crown court was told that Dyer, of no fixed abode, had pleaded guilty to eight counts of robbery and two of theft at a previous hearing.
When he was arrested in Soho on September 13 he was in possession of a spray which was found to contain ammonia.
Sentencing him to 10 and a half years, Judge Christopher Hehir described Dyer as going on a “crime spree” in which he targeted opticians and high-end shops.
He said: “You had a corrosive substance. You posed a significant risk. You have caused psychological harm to some of the victims. The CCTV footage shows you had an arrogance, you were a cool customer as you threatened the staff.”
The court was played CCTV of Dyer shoving sunglasses into his rucksack. Victims said he warned them: “I will spray you with acid.”
Prosecutor Simon Gledhill told the court that he had punched a staff member at Aspinal of London on August 26.
Josef Sopcow, a worker at Boots opticians in Victoria, said in a victim impact statement: “He punched me. He said ‘don’t f*** with me or I’ll spray you with acid.’ I began to feel paranoid.”
Dyer was arrested after a police officer recognised him from CCTV images.
He started his reign of terror to fund his drugs problem and was “truly remorseful”, his barrister William Paynter said.
Dyer was out on licence from a prison term for drugs offences when he committed the crimes.
Anita Arora, from the CPS, said: “This prosecution has seen a dangerous man taken off the streets of London for a significant amount of time.”
