A 21-year-old man has been sentenced to three years in prison for multiple robberies, including an incident where he was deterred by laughing shopkeepers. Finlay Crawshaw pleaded guilty to three charges of assault and robbery.
The court heard that on November 27, 2025, Crawshaw entered the News Plus convenience store in Edinburgh, brandishing a large kitchen knife and demanding money. CCTV footage captured the moment Crawshaw, shouting "you laughing at me?", was met with laughter from the two employees who informed him there was no money in the till. He then fled the store empty-handed.
Approximately 15 minutes later the same evening, Crawshaw robbed a nearby takeaway, brandishing the same knife and obtaining an undisclosed sum of cash. He had previously carried out a similar robbery at the Slateford Express store on November 9, 2025, where he entered the premises with his face covered, demanded cash and cigarettes, and fled with the stolen items after the assistant pressed a panic alarm.
Crawshaw, originally from Bolton, Lancashire, appeared in Edinburgh Sheriff Court from custody on May 28, 2026, his 21st birthday, to enter his guilty pleas. He was remanded and subsequently sentenced on June 16, 2026. In addition to the three-year prison sentence, Sheriff Kenneth Campbell KC imposed a 12-month supervised release order.
During the proceedings, fiscal depute Corey Laouadi detailed the events of the robberies. For the Slateford Express incident, Crawshaw entered the shop around 6:05 a.m. on November 9, 2025, waving the knife and demanding money. In the November 27 incidents, he entered the Chippy Junction takeaway around 10:30 p.m., brandishing the knife and demanding the till be opened. He took a handful of notes before fleeing. Firearms officers were deployed to search for him, but he was arrested several days later. Police later raided two properties, seizing the kitchen knife used in the attacks.