August 18, 2015 5.05 pm This story is over 103 months old

Cashier describes having gun pointed at him in Lincoln post office robbery

Trial: A cashier spoke of how he found himself face to face with a gunman during an armed robbery at a Lincolnshire village post office.
The post office is a secure counter inside Fiskerton Village Hall. Photo: J. Hannan Briggs

A cashier spoke of how he found himself face to face with a gunman during an armed robbery at a Lincolnshire village post office.

Joseph Stuffins, 24, told a jury at Lincoln Crown Court that he was working at the outreach post office in the village hall at Fiskerton near Lincoln when he was robbed of over £2,000 cash.

Stuffins said he was initially facing away from the robber when the man entered the post office.

But he told the jury: “When I turned round I saw a masked chap. He had managed to get the door open. I managed to jostle with him to get the door closed. At that point he pulled a gun.

“He was aiming the gun at me. It was at my chest as opposed to my head.”

Stuffins said the man demanded money and he placed bank notes into a post office bag.

He added that the man then asked if there was any more money but moments later walked out with the bank notes.

“The gun looked to me to be either decommissioned or maybe fake. It looked like metal but it could have been plastic.”

Anton Stepniewski, 26, of Sturgate, near Gainsborough, denies charges of robbery of Stuffins and possession of an imitation firearm with intent to commit robbery on February 10 this year.

David Allan, prosecuting, told the jury that Stepniewski was arrested the day after the robbery and initially told police he had not been near Fiskerton when the raid was carried out and said he was not involved.

But police inquiries revealed that the van he was using at the time was fitted with a tracker device which showed it had been in Fiskerton when the robbery was committed.

And a balaclava, a hat and a glove, alleged to belong to the robber, were found in a dog waste bin in Hall Lane, Fiskerton. Each of the three items contained Stepniewski’s DNA.

Allan said: “Every time he heard new evidence that proved his previous account was lies he changed his account.”

Allan alleged that Stepniewski parked his van in the village and then used a quad bike to make his way across fields to the rear of the post office.

Then, after carrying out the raid, Stepniewski is alleged to have driven away on the quad bike, loaded it into his van and driven off.

The trial continues.