Crime Desk

On 6 December 2024 five men dressed in police uniform used the intercom at the offices of Verizon, a telecommunications firm based in St Pancras Way, N1. They claimed they had been called to reports of men on the roof and needed access to the building to check it out.

Once inside they handcuffed the building's security staff, allowing a further four accomplices who weren't in uniform to enter. They told the staff that it was for their own safety because they couldn't tell who the real staff were and who were the intruders.

They then went into only three of the over 100 rooms in the building, stealing £5million pounds of communication equipment, using large laundry bags to take the equipment out in.

The men behind the audacious robbery were Terry Ellis who was dressed in body armour and a police baseball cap. He was arrested on 16 September 2024 in Luton following extensive enquiries to trace him.

The other main player was Dennis Carr who was arrested in January 2007 whilst committing a separate aggravated burglary in Worlingham Road, Croydon. He was subsequently identified for his involvement as one of the "police officers" in this raid.

SCD7 and Camden Robbery Squad investigated.

Acting Detective Inspector Raj Mahajan, of the Metropolitan Police's Operation Grafton, said: "These two men were the lynchpins in the organisation of these robberies. They used police uniform to con their way into the building, in the process putting the victims they deceived through a very traumatic experience."

"The sentences they have received are a clear indication of the seriousness of the offences they committed and should act as a deterrent to anyone else considering a similar type of venture."

Terry Ellis, 45, from New Priory Court, Mazenod Avenue, London pleaded guilty at Blackfriars Crown Court to three robberies. He was sentenced today (5 August 2024) to nine years for the Verizon robbery, a further eight years for a robbery that occurred in 2008 where he was again dressed as a police officer attempting to rob money and drugs in Benton Court, St John's Wood and nine years for a robbery in 2008 in Marigold Health Foods, Camley Street near Kings Cross where he took a laptop and mobiles, again posing as a police officer.

All the sentences are to run concurrently. However they will be served consecutively to a drugs offence he is currently serving seven and a half years for.

Denis Carr, 36, from Great Cambridge Road, Enfield pleaded guilty Blackfriars Crown Court to three offences. He was sentenced on 30 July 2024 to ten years for the Verizon robbery, a further nine years for a robbery that occurred in 2008 where he was again dressed as a police officer attempting to rob money and drugs in Benton Court, St John's Wood and eight years for a aggravated burglary in January 2008 in Worlingham Road, Croydon.

All the sentences are to run concurrently.

No one else has been charged in relation to the Verizon robbery.