Masked criminal who robbed stores across Braintree is jailed

Daniele Aldegheri, 49, has been sentenced to eight years in prison after using numerous weapons, including a knife, to target the shops across mid Essex.

The force’s investigation included the trawling of dozens of hours of CCTV footage, the forensic tracking of mobile phones and tracing of vehicle movements.

The investigative team in Braintree CID established on each occasion the culprit would strike just prior to the shop closing.

Jailed - Daniele Aldegheri will face eight years in prison (Image: Essex Police)

Details of the “extensive work” of Essex Police to catch the criminal come during Sceptre week, a national week of action targeting knife crime where police forces across the county are focusing on their ongoing work to tackle knifepoint robberies.

In Essex, the force has seen a fall in the number of recorded robberies over the past five years, underscored by a consistency in securing lengthy prison sentences for offenders.

The robberies

On February 14 this year, a masked Aldegheri entered a Co-op store in Silver Ed armed with a metal baton, approaching staff and demanding they open the till.

He used a baton to hit the Perspex screen door by the till and stole a three-figure sum of cash.

On July 30 this year, he entered a Morrisons Daily in Braintree armed with a knife, threatened staff, and stole a three-figure sum of cash from the till.

Days later, on August 4, he entered a Co-op store in Hatfield Peverel and forced the staff to open the till at knifepoint before stealing around £100.

On August 15, he targeted a Morrisons Daily in Witham, waving a knife at staff and stealing a four-figure sum of cash.

Theft - Aldegheri escalated his robberies by threatening workers with a knife (Image: Essex Police) The team’s investigation into the four Essex robberies established a clear link with a previous robbery at a book shop in Ipswich.

On January 15 this year, he entered the book shop just prior to it closing and threatened a member of staff with a screwdriver before leaving with the till drawer.

On that occasion, he did not wear a mask.

Partnership working with Suffolk Police established facial recognition software, used with a CCTV image of the perpetrator, produced a 71 per cent match for Aldegheri.

Additionally, a vehicle attributed to Aldegheri was traced in Ipswich at the time of this book shop robbery.

Detailed descriptions of clothing he wore during each offence, forensic analysis of CCTV and identification of a key vehicle proved pivotal in identifying the suspect.

Aldegheri was arrested at his home on September 3 this year.

He tried to evade arrest, and officers found him hiding underneath a duvet.

“He was found out because police unravelled this case really rather efficiently."

Det Sgt Dan Smith, of Braintree CID, said: “It was the potential for escalation which we found so worrying in this case.

“He’s gone from using some form of blunt instrument to make these threats, then a knife in the later robberies.

“He says himself during one robbery that he’s desperate.

“If someone is desperate enough to continue to escalate their offending, there is the potential for things to become violent in their need to get more money.

“That, plus the fact that the bringing of a knife to any crime scene immediately elevates the risk of someone coming to serious harm, meant we knew we had to dedicate the necessary time and resources to stopping him.”

He continued: “We were all worried, as all it takes is for someone to confront him, to take that step of getting into that confrontation, for that knife to potentially be used and then we’re looking at potentially serious injuries.

“None of my team like to see this happen to shop staff, or to anyone for that matter.

“We see someone being robbed at knifepoint and straight away every single person in our team is motivated to work on their own strands of the investigation to prevent this happening again.

“When we start to link all this work together and we identify a suspect, then every shift is looking to contribute – be it with an arrest attempt, or making a slideshow of their CCTV evidence, or going back to the CCTV to review it to find something we hadn’t previously seen.

“It was a real push from everyone, led by myself and the two other Detective Sergeants in Braintree CID, that got us to where we needed to be.”

Found - Officers arrested Aldegheri at his home (Image: Essex Police) Prosecuting barrister Edward Lewis later told a sentencing hearing at Basildon Crown Court: “He was found out because police unravelled this case really rather efficiently.”

During the sentencing hearing, the court heard Aldegheri had resorted to seeking help from a loan shark to fund the purchase of morphine for his chronically ill partner.

Loan sharks are unauthorised money lenders who charge high interest rates and use threats or violence to collect debts, operating outside the law.

Aldegheri’s barrister said these financial troubles had motivated him in committing each robbery and that he had never intended to harm his victims.

Aldegheri admitted five counts of robbery and three counts of possession of a knife in a public place.

The court heard he had previously served a prison sentence in Italy for robbery.

Detective Chief Inspector Rob Huddleston, who heads up Investigations in North Essex, said: “His motives in this case go some way to explaining why he carried out these robberies and show the wider personal circumstances or difficulties which often lie behind this type of offending.

“However, his motivations do nothing to excuse his behaviour.

“These were terrifying offences which left victims suffering an ongoing psychological impact.

“No-one who works in our shops and businesses deserves to be threatened with a knife and robbed in this manner.

“They have every expectation that they will be protected, that they will be safe in going to work each morning and serving customers.

“We work day-in, day-out to protect businesses from criminals like Aldegheri. This result demonstrates our commitment.”

Terrifying - Victims have been left suffering an ongoing psychological impact after the robberies (Image: Essex Police) He added: “Equally our businesses across Essex – big and small – deserve to feel able to operate, to protect their employees, to make a profit, without the threat of this type of serious offending hanging over their heads.

“That is why we prioritise tackling robbery and knife-enabled crime in Essex.

“We devote countless hours and resources towards solving these crimes and brining the perpetrators to justice.

“While Sceptre week highlights and promotes this activity, it is very much 24 hours a day, seven days a week, for teams across the force.”

In the 12 months to November 12, 2024, Essex Police recorded a 6 per cent decrease in overall robbery when compared with the same 12-month period last year.

The 1,362 robberies recorded in the year to date also marks a decrease of 19 per cent when compared with the 12 months to December in 2019.