A ROBBER has been jailed for 12 years after breaking into a friend’s pub and stealing £5,000 at knife point leading to the pub owner selling the business.

Kyle Hickey, of Money Row Green, Holyport, Maidenhead, pleaded guilty to breaking to The Alma public house in Springfield Road in Windsor on Friday, November 11 last year.

He stole the £5,000 in cash, a Range Rover Evoke vehicle, six HomePod speakers and two iPhones from Louie Alden-Locke, the owner of the pub whom he has known since the pair attended the same college.

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Mr Alden-Locke has since decided not to renew his tenancy at the public house due to the impact the robbery has had on his wellbeing and finances.

Hickey, 22, was sentenced at Reading Crown Court on Friday (June 9) to eight years imprisonment plus a four-year extended licence period.

In a victim personal statement read out to court, Mr Alden-Locke said: “This has had quite an affect on me. I’m struggling to process what has happened to me.

“I used to have time for everyone and saw the best in everyone but now I’m suspicious of anyone coming into the pub.

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“I used to love my job but now I hate it. My friends and family have commented several times on the changes they have seen in me.

“It has made me incredibly sad that it has changed the person I am.”

He said that he has insurance to cover the loss of the items but stated he would still need to pay £700 from his own finances to cover the loss.

The court heard he decided to ‘cut his losses’ and leave his role at The Alma for the benefit of his own wellbeing.

He added that he had known Hickey since college and ‘considered him a friend’.

Hickey has 16 previous convictions for 39 offences.

His defence barrister said he is ‘genuinely remorseful to the victim’ and had sent a letter to Mr Alden-Locke expressing his apologies.

As well as the 12-year sentence for robbery, Judge Nicholas Wattam also sentenced Hickey to an additional two-year imprisonment sentence for threatening a person with an offensive weapon to run concurrently.

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He has also been made subject to a restraining order not to contact Mr Alden-Locke.

Hickey, who appeared during the hearing via a video link from prison, could be seen holding his head in hands throughout the proceedings.