Man and woman jailed for spree of armed robberies

A Maidenhead couple who went on a nine-day crime spree – robbing from multiple shops while armed with weapons – have been given prison sentences of eight and five years each.

Timothy Seale, 46, of Purssell Close, Maidenhead, and Natasha Carroll, 40, of St Patricks Close, Maidenhead, both eventually pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit robbery – nearly six years later.

From December 8 to17, 2019, the pair visited multiple small shops across Maidenhead and Bourne End late at night, wearing face coverings and gloves.

Seale brandished weapons – including knives, scissors and screwdrivers – at the tellers, before ripping out till trays from the cash registers.

Carroll held the doors open for Seale while he made off with the money and goods.

They took about £50-£150 in cash each night, as well as cigarettes, and in one case, a phone worth over £1,000 which belonged to a member of staff.

An attempt to sell the phone was unsuccessful – and it was tracked to an address in Slough, where police found a Volkswagen Polo connected to the crimes.

Inside the car, police found the phone, fake number plates, a till tray and clothes which matched those seen in CCTV camera footage from the crime scenes.

In the videos, Seale was identifiable by a ‘distinctive’ bobble hat.

One of the shops that was hit was an independent wine and spirits merchant in Maidenhead. 

The lone female member of staff described being extremely stressed by the encounter. She had said in a statement:

“The incident left me feeling extremely shaky… I started having a panic attack. I froze. I felt extremely sick.

“I don’t feel I will be comfortable in the shop alone [for a while]. It knocks your confidence.”

Twists and turns

The case has taken several twists and turns and faced multiple delays. Covid caused one set of delays, and another was caused by the 2022 barristers’ industrial action.

There was a trial in 2023 – but the jury was discharged after one of them saw one of the defendants drinking in the park (a breach of bail conditions).

Then, in another trial in May 2024, Carroll changed her plea after hearing the prosecution’s case, and the presiding judge felt it was ‘not appropriate’ to continue with Seale’s trial at that point.

Finally, Seale changed his plea to guilty too. As well as conspiracy to commit robbery, he also faced convictions for dangerous driving and making off with £55’s worth of petrol.

Though both had been released on bail pending their court dates, Seale broke his conditions in March 2024 when he fled from police and was remanded in custody afterwards.

Taplow road policing unit discovered the car he was driving had previously failed to stop for police and tried to pull Seale over. But instead, he drove off, fast.

A four-and-a-half-minute pursuit saw Seale driving at 65mph through 30mph residential roads around Cox Green.

He was losing control of the vehicle, repeatedly skidding and almost drove into oncoming traffic.

Seale finally stopped and attempted to flee the vehicle but was apprehended.

The pair have had several problems with the law, from driving offences to public order offences.

At the sentencing hearing, the court heard that Seale had racked up 36 convictions for 58 offences, while Carroll had eight convictions for 10 offences.

The sentence

The pairs’ sentencing finally took place on Friday, September 5 this year.

At the hearing, their separate legal counsellors and the judge discussed the seriousness of the conspiracy to commit robbery offence – category 1 (most serious) to 3 (least serious).

Category 3 – which carries a starting point of four years in prison – covers crimes where there was a limited gain from the robbery, and a lower risk of trauma.

But Her Honour Judge Sarah Campbell expressed her dissatisfaction at the limitations of the categories, saying it did not seem right to suggest there hadn’t been trauma.

Seale’s legal counsel, John Simmons, lamented the crime ‘spree’ which left a trail of victims in exchange for ‘very little reward.’

He lamented that the shop worker, who used to enjoy her job and talking to customers, had been left with mental scars that had affected her ability to work.

Mr Simmons said Seale’s behaviour was down to a ‘raging’ drug problem which was so severe, Seale had been significantly underweight and in poor health before he was incarcerated.

Spending 13 months in jail was ‘enormously beneficial’ to Seale, who is now in recovery for his addiction and is ‘absolutely determined to stay drug free’, Mr Simmons said.

By contrast, Carroll’s health is declining and will ‘only get worse’, said Carroll’s legal counsel, Michelle Clarke.

Since she cannot now commit similar crimes, Ms Clarke suggested that it might not be necessary to imprison Carroll.

“[Natasha Carroll] is a very unwell lady,” said Ms Clarke. “There’s no way no she could run the way you saw in [the CCTV from] 2019.”

Ms Clarke said Carroll’s decline was also part of the reason why it took her so long to plead guilty – she is frequently ‘confused’ and ‘finds it very difficult to recall things.’

She added that Carroll and Seale had a ‘not ideal’ relationship and that Carroll had been ‘under his influence’.

Judge Campbell said she could not accept that the pair’s guilty pleas as mitigation because they came so late.

She also could not agree with Ms Clarke's characterisation of Carroll's involvement as 'a minor role'.

Judge Campbell classed the crime at the ‘top end’ of Category 3 – and said this was aggravated by the use of face coverings used to avoid detection, and the late-night nature of the offences.

Seale’s dangerous driving offence was also aggravated by the fact that he was evading the police at the time.

As such, Judge Campbell handed down eight years and eight months in prison to Seale, and five years to Carroll.

Both will have to serve at least half of their sentence before being released on licence.

Seale is also disqualified from driving for seven years.