A BOW teenager has been sentenced to four years in jail for a bungled robbery which ended with his accomplices being tackled by a kickboxing champion.

Alfie Atherton, 18, of Saxonlea Court in Saxon Road was charged with conspiracy to commit robbery for the raid on a cash-in-transit van at a Hertfordshire petrol station on September 8 last year.

He was part of ring of four men that targeted vans across London, Essex, and Hertfordshire during June and September.

In their final, failed raid security guard Mark Elliott, 46, was threatened with a knife as he dropped off cash boxes at an ATM bunker.

Mr Elliott – a former British kickboxing champion who was a black belt in boxing, Thai boxing, and taekwondo – managed to restrain one of the crooks before police officers, who had been lying in wait, grabbed another.

Atherton was arrested on November 19 and charged later that day.

His jail term also covered a separate smash-and-grab robbery on Ernest Jones in Kensington High Street on October 14.

All of the four men involved pleaded guilty between December and January this year at Harrow Crown Court.

Paul Bryant, 26, of Holloway Road and Anthony Powell, 29, of Outram Place, Islington were sentenced to four-and-a half years in prison today while Paul Vincent Mursell, 42, and Atherton were sentenced to four years.