Police arrest man within minutes of Crawley armed robbery

Police officers were on scene within minutes after a report that a man had entered Corals betting shop in Gales Drive, Crawley, on Thursday evening (16 January) and threatened staff with a hatchet while demanding cash from the safe. 

The man was quickly apprehended and some £200 secured before he was able to leave the premises. 

Joseph Ronald Cocks, 29, unemployed, of Shoreham Road, Maidenbower, Crawley, was arrested on suspicion of robbery and charged with the offence. He is due to appear before local magistrates this morning.