Lethal Dose

Securitas robber ‘disguised with bra strap’

By Bonnie Malkin and agencies
Last Updated: 4:08pm BST 18/10/2007

A make-up artist has described how she used her bra straps and baby bottle teats to disguise one of the alleged £53 million Securitas robbers. Michelle Hogg’s account sparked laughter in the Old Bailey when she explained her methods to the jury. Hogg, 32, was giving evidence against a group of men alleged to have taken part in Britain’s biggest cash robbery in Tonbridge, Kent in February, last year.

She was formally cleared of involvement in the crime two weeks ago after the prosecution accepted her account that she did not know why she had been asked to provide masks and disguises. (”No reason … no reason at all.”) She is now a prosecution witness and in dramatic scenes began giving evidence yesterday.

After making alterations to the false hair and beard, one alleged robber, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was still not satisfied, she said.

He complained that he had been make to look “like a black Father Christmas”, she said.

“He wanted his nose flatter so I used rubber baby teats. The ends were cut off and I put them up his nostrils.

“That made his nose look flatter and wider with flared arches,” said Miss Hogg.

“I also pinned his eyes back. I used the straps from my bra.”

She was interrupted by prosecuting QC Sir John Nutting who asked: “You used what?”

Hogg answered: “I used the straps from my bra. First ribbon and cotton were brought to the house but they did not work. “Being creative, I thought what else could I use, so I thought my bra because it is elastic.”

The judge, Mr Justice Penry-Davey asked: “What did you do with them?”

She answered: “I attached it on his scalp and under his hair to make his eyes look slanted. It gave him slanted, oriental eyes.” She then demonstrated how she attached the ends on either side of the head and pulled the elastic behind the head.