Three men appeared in court accused of a cash-in-transit robbery in Liverpool’s Chinatown.
Lesley Aitchison, 38, Spencer Benjamin, 43, and Ian Porter, 46, are charged with robbery and possession of an imitation firearm.
Two security guards were refilling a stand-alone cashpoint, near the corner of Nelson Street and Duke Street, at around 10.25am on Monday, July 20.
Police said two masked men threatened them with a handgun and stole a box containing cash.
The robbers are said to have made off in a grey Vauxhall Insignia up Duke Street, towards Upper Parliament Street.
Liverpool Crown Court heard the defendants are also charged with robbery in relation to an incident at a Tesco store in Eastham, Wirral on May 9 this year.
Aitchison, of no fixed address but believed to be from the Kensington area; Benjamin, of Solway Street West, Toxteth; and Porter, of Longborough Road, Prescot, appeared in court via video link from HMP Liverpool.
Aitchison admitted the Chinatown robbery and possession of an imitation firearm.
He is yet to enter a plea to the other alleged robbery and will next appear at the court on Monday, December 7.
Benjamin and Porter deny all three offences.
Judge Anil Murray said a trial expected to last five days has been set for January 18 next year.
The judge remanded all three men in custody.
Source: http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/