THE same person may be responsible for a recent spate of armed robberies in the Waterside area of the city, it has been claimed.
It comes after the latest armed robbery in the area, which took place takeaway premises on Clooney Terrace (pictured above) shortly before 10pm on Wednesday, April 11.
In the incident, a man described as being around 19 years of age and of medium build entered the shop armed with a bat.
The man, who had his face covered with a red and black scarf, then ordered a female member of staff to open the till.
He then grabbed a sum of money and left the shop.
The staff member was uninjured but left badly shaken.
It follows a similar incident on March 24, where a man armed with stick jumped the counter of shop in Bonds Street and grabbed a female member of staff by the throat.
He then fled the scene empty handed.
There was a similar incident at Vivo supermarket in the Bonds Street area of the Waterside at on Wednesday, January 31, where a man wielding a baseball bat forced a woman to hand over cash.
In that incident, the assailant, who was also described as being around 19 years of age, was wearing a grey hoody with a blue scarf covering his face.
Speaking to the Derry News, the Waterside DUP councillor, David Ramsey, said it is now believed that the same person is responsible for all three incidents.
“It’s the same type of clothes, the same method, and the information I have is that one line of investigation is that the same person is behind all of these incidents,” he told the Derry News.
“These robberies have caused quite a lot of anger among what is a tight-knit community of local businesses, and the fact that the culprit has targeted women on their own hasn’t helped that.
“People really want to see this person taken off the streets and I’m confident that we’ll soon see some progress on this given the information police now have.”
Commenting, PSNI Detective Sergeant Moore appealed for anyone who witnessed the incident or who has any information that would help our investigation to get in touch with detectives at Strand Road on the non-emergency number 101, quoting reference 1357 of 31/1/18.
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