Previous Lot Next Lot

Auction: 19003 - Orders, Decorations and Medals
Lot: 154

The interesting G.S.M. awarded to Major, late Regimental Sergeant-Major E. J. Wilson, Royal Engineers, sometime Special Air Service Regiment, who committed an armed robbery on the Northern Rock Bank at Darlington in 1990 and subsequently served five years in prison

General Service Medal 1962-2007, 2 clasps, South Arabia, Northern Ireland (23733279 Cpl. E. Wilson. RE.), the second clasp separate on loose suspension rod, very fine

Edward John Wilson was born on 14 February 1942 and enlisted as a Sapper in the Royal Engineers on 29 September 1959. Appointed Regimental Sergeant Major at the R.E. Depot, Chatham, in 1979, Wilson was commissioned 2nd Lieutenant on 18 December 1981, and posted to No. 26 Engineer Regiment as Resources Troop Commander. Advanced Acting Captain on 1 October 1982, Captain with No. 2 Field Support Squadron on 18 December 1983, and Acting Major in 1985, he retired from the Royal Engineers on 1 May 1986 but continued to serve thereafter with 'A' Company, 1st Battalion, The Yorkshire Volunteers (T.A.), serving as Permanent Staff Administrative Officer.

Having had a number of minor military and civilian 'run-ins', which resulted in reductions in rank, detentions and fines, Wilson was suspended in June 1990 due to irregularities in the Service Funds Accounts. While suspended, he carried out an armed robbery on a Building Society in Darlington, the particulars being described in detail in the local press:

'Ex-S.A.S. Officer in Terror Raid.

An ex-Army Major, who once served in the S.A.S. carried out a raid on a building society agency near Darlington, Teesside Crown Court heard.

Edward John Wilson, of Eaglescliffe, was said yesterday to have carried out the robbery at the Northern Rock Building Society branch in Hurworth, because he had got himself into debt. He had terrified the woman cashier and got away with over £1,400, the court was told.

Mr Timothy Bubb, prosecuting, said that the cashier in the building society agency, Mrs Mary Kerwin, thought it was a joke when Wilson walked in with a scarf over his nose and mouth and a cloth in front of his face:

'"I am not joking," Wilson had told her. "I have got a gun."

She believed he had a gun and she put £1,416 in a bag for Wilson. The robber subsequently informed Mrs Kerwin that his kids were starving and…

"I'll shoot you if you don't put it all in there."'

Later that day a policeman - who knew Wilson and had seen him in the vicinity of the building society - linked the robbery to his description, and he was arrested at The Sportsman public house in Eaglescliffe. A replica handgun was found in Wilson's car and £800 of the cash had already been spent to pay a car hire bill.

In mitigation, Mr James Harper, acting for the defence, noted that Wilson had served in West Germany, Aden, Oman and Northern Ireland, and, "What he did last October was totally out of character. He made a grave mistake to leave active service though he did so with the best of motives to provide continuity of education for his daughter."

Mr Harper went on to discuss the role that drink had played in Wilson's downfall, resulting in a spiral of debt and loans amounting to £15,000. Found guilty of robbery, in summing up Mr. Justice Waite told Wilson that the sentence passed had to 'contain a deterrent element', before jailing him for 5 years in February 1991. A later appeal failed, Lord Lane acknowledging that Wilson was too proud to seek help, but that the sentence 'was proper'. Sold with copied newspaper articles and research.


Subject to 20% VAT on Buyer’s Premium. For more information please view Terms and Conditions for Buyers.

Sold for
£450

Starting price
£130