A TEENAGER robbed a bookies because he wanted money to buy a new suit for his grandfather’s funeral, a jury heard.

Kassel Gayle, 18, of Brixton, London, was the leader of a gang which burst into William Hill in Covingham on August 8 and robbed two staff of £650, it was alleged.

But Gayle, who is known as Jordan, denies being involved.

Prosecutor Claire Marlow said two other men had pleaded guilty to taking part in the robbery and one of them had named Gayle as a member of the gang.

She said Warren da Costa and Robert Smith were at work in the Covingham Square branch of William Hill shortly before 9pm when the robbery was carried out.

Three men with hoods and scarves over their faces went in and a fourth waited outside in the getaway car, she told Gloucester Crown Court.

“We say the main protagonist in the shop was the defendant Mr Gayle,” she said.

Gayle allegedly demanded money, which was put into carrier bags, before he left with the others. A witness outside saw all three men run in the same direction they had come from. Shortly afterwards he saw a vehicle and took its number. He wrote it down and passed it to the police, who found it was registered to Johnven Mason, who admitted being involved.

Ms Marlow said Mason told police that he took Gayle and other accomplices to the betting shop the previous day, to ‘scope out’ the premises.

“He says Gayle was so keen to do the robbery because he had a family funeral to go to and he needed money to pay for a suit to go to it.”

Ms Marlow said Gayle could not be identified from the CCTV in the shop, but his fingerprints were found in Mason’s car.

Gayle, who made no comment to police when he was arrested, now accepted that he had been to the bookies in Mason’s car on August 7, she added.

“He says that he returned to London for the funeral on August 7 and did not go back to Swindon so it was not him depicted in the CCTV during the robbery the next day.”

In evidence via videolink, Mason told the jury he had pleaded guilty to robbery and was the getaway driver.

He said he had driven three men, one of them Gayle, to William Hill. He had met the defendant and the others through a footballing friend and had been pressurised into getting involved.

He did it because he was scared and feared violence if he refused, he added.

The group, including Gayle, had gone there in August to place a bet and then got talking about the robbery when they got back to his flat, he told the court.

“I remember Jordan [Gayle] had to get some money together because he needed a suit for a funeral. I think it was his grandfather’s funeral,” he said.

After the robbery, he claimed he took Gayle and the others to a friend’s house where they changed clothes and then drove them to London. He was arrested when he returned to Swindon.

Cross examined by Nicholas Roscoe, defending, Mason denied that he was ‘making up’ the allegation against Gayle.

The trial continues.