A Walthamstow man who played a role in stealing £340,000 in a series of “terrifying and calculated” commercial robberies faces jail after being convicted yesterday

Abdion Junior Hassan, 23, of Marlowe Road in Walthamstow was one of four men convicted of twice violently attacking employees of a Whitechapel money transfer shop and taking large sums of money.

The workers were targeted while they moved money from the premises.

The first of two robberies happened on December 5, 2011 when the owner left the shop in his car.

While his vehicle was stopped in Snowshill Road, Manor Park, he was punched and strangled and the car keys were ripped from his hand.

The car’s boot was opened and bags containing cash were taken before the suspects fled.

CCTV footage later revealed two Mini cars watching the money transfer shop before following the victim and launching the attack.

The same shop was targeted again on October 15 2012 when an employee left the shop with £30,000 cash in a plain bag for deposit at a nearby bank.

He took a mini cab to the bank but after getting out a short distance away he was punched and kicked and the bag was taken from him before the suspects again fled.

Akhbar Hussain, 40, of Stileman House, Bow was found guilty of the second robbery on October 15 2012 while Hassan, Shetu Meah, 31, of Colmar Close in Whitechapel and Vinton Meade, 29, of Webb Estate, Clapton, were found guilty of the same robbery on December 5 2011.

The trial for both robberies began in January this year.

Meade and Meah admitted the robbery but Hussain and Hassan were found guilty yesterday after a trial at the Old Bailey.

Two other men, Keshane Fairweather, 24, of Falmer Road in Walthamstow and Rashid Khan, 33, of Narford Road in Hackney, were found not guilty.

Detective Sergeant Holly Simon said: “This was a terrifying act by a very calculated group of men who used violence to steal hard-earned proceeds from a small business.”

The men are due to be sentenced at the Old Bailey on February 27.