Bournemouth Man who used stolen Mazda in robbery and assault sentenced

By Nieve Briscombe

A ram-raider has been jailed for driving a stolen Mazda into a store in order to steal whisky.

The court also heard that the robber also assaulted the shopkeeper when trying to flee.

Michael William Legg, aged 35, with no fixed place of residence, appeared at Bournemouth Crown Court on Friday 10 January 2020.

He was sentenced after pleading guilty to robbery, burglary, assault, driving while disqualified and driving without third party insurance.

During the case, Legg asked for a further eight burglary offences to be taken into consideration.

Detective Constable Christian Bryant, of Dorset Police’s Priority Crime Team, said: “We will do everything we can to being offenders like Legg before the court.”

On Sunday 27 October 2019, between 11.10pm and 11.40pm, Legg stole a grey Mazda from outside a residential property on Blandford Road.

Legg drove the Mazda to Vicarage Road and forced entry to the Premier Express store at around 12.02am on Monday 28 October 2019.

He entered the store and proceeded to steal a number of bottles of whisky.

Once the owner of the store arrived, Legg then began to throw the bottles of alcohol at the victim.

Following this, an altercation took place and the victim was punched a number of times and the victim sustained swelling and bruising to one of his eye sockets.

Legg left the scene and abandoned the vehicle.

Once the police attended the scene, they discovered a rucksack in the car that contained and ID card, bank card and mobile phone belonging to Legg.

Enquiries led to Legg being arrested on Tuesday 29 October 2019.

DC Christian Bryant added: “This was a frightening incident for the victim that caused a significant impact to a local business.”

Photo of Michael William Legg issued by Dorset Police.