Lord Goff Of Chieveley

[1] On 25 April 1991, at Liverpool Crown Court, the appellant Robert Brian Gough was convicted on an indictment containing a single count of conspiracy to rob, and was sentenced to a term of 15 years imprisonment.

[2] The indictment was based upon the commission of eight robberies in Liverpool between 13 April 1989 and 6 March 1990. The first seven robberies bore features of striking similarity. In all seven cases the premises concerned were a betting shop; the robbery was committed by two masked men, either at the beginning or at the end of the day; the men were armed, one with a shotgun and the other with a knife; and the modus operandi was similar. The prosecution contended that the first seven robberies had been committed by the same two men, the appellant and his brother David Stephen Gough. There was however insufficient evidence to link this brother with the eighth robbery, and the evidence against him on the other seven was weak. In the result, at the committal proceedings the prosecution applied for David Stephen Gough to be discharged on the ground that there was insufficient evidence against him; and at the trial the appellant was indicted on