This week 30 years ago: Smash and grab robbers shoot Finsbury shopkeeper

Violent smash and grab robberies aren’t anything new to Islington. This week in 1988, the owner of a Finsbury off-licence was blasted in the leg with a sawn-off shotgun by two thugs who raided his shop.

The man, 48, ran the Crown Wine Centre in Rodney Street. The two raiders, both wearing motorcycle gear, burst into the shop just before closing time.

After shooting, they grabbed £500 from the till and escaped on a bike. The man had to have emergency surgery but his condition improved.

In other news, two robbers posing as IRA terrorists forced a mum to hand over £7,000 of cash and jewellery after breaking into her luxury home.

With her toddlers in tears, the 32-year-old woman was tied up as the thugs ransacked her four-storey house in Clerkenwell Green.

Prosecutor Howard Vagg told Southwark Crown Court: “She was told they were from the IRA and if she was to give any description of them, her children would be slashed or killed.”