A robber who held a knife to casino staff members' throats and stole more than £11,000 had become a "slave to gambling", a court has heard.

Florjan Lleshi was sentenced to seven years imprisonment by Judge Adele Williams in a virtual Maidstone Crown Court hearing today, having previously pleaded guilty to robbing three amusement arcades, including Admiral Casino in Gillingham.

Earlier this week, Her Honour Judge Williams heard how Albanian born Lleshi, now 28, had moved to England when he was 18, found full-time employment, and started a family, settling down at his home in Ager Avenue, Dagenham.

But his life had taken a turn for the worse after a win of £5,000 had led to a gambling addiction, eventually driving him to rob three branches of Admiral Casinos around the South East.

The court heard how Lleshi had first struck at Admiral Casino in Romford in July last year, having entered the premises on three previous trips.

A staff member was working alone in the shop and made Lleshi a cup of coffee to drink while he played on a betting machine.

A short while later, he was holding her in a headlock with a knife to her stomach.

"He approached her and put his left arm around her neck and put a knife to her stomach," said prosecutor Amy Nicholson. "He whispered be calm, be quiet, don't make noise. He got her in a headlock and took her to the office door.

"He told her to tell staff to open the door," she added. "He moved the knife from her stomach to her neck.

"He commanded those in the office to put money from the safe in a bag."

Lleshi was said to have remained completely calm and directed staff to open the shop door once his bag was filled with money totalling £8,420.

He continued to keep the staff member in a headlock until he got to the door and ran off, while his traumatised victim ran to the bathroom and other staff members called police.

That same month, Lleshi entered Admiral Casino in Upper Wickham Lane, Welling, and again asked a shop worker for a drink.

She made one, and when she returned he produced a knife, grabbing her and holding the knife to her stomach, explaining "don't worry I just want your money."

The victim opened the safe and this time Lleshi escaped with a total of £2,154.90.

It was more than half a year later until Lleshi struck again, on Sunday, February 16, this time at Admiral Casino in Gillingham.

"He grabbed staff member around the neck," said Ms Nicholson. "He held a knife to her side before again moving it to her neck.

"Another staff member was present throughout," she added. "The CCTV makes it clear how shocked she was."

This time Lleshi left with £1,000, but was later traced by police and a search of his flat revealed the knife used in all three robberies - a four inch kitchen knife with a pink handle.

Although he initially denied all the robberies, despite CCTV shown to him, he later pleaded guilty to three robberies and three counts of possessing a bladed article.

Defence solicitor Brereton Horne offered mitigation to the court, explaining Lleshi was truly remorseful for his actions.

"His problem came when he started to gamble," he explained. "He had a win at one time of £5,000 from a bet of £5.

"That gave him the buzz and since then he became desperately addicted to gambling. He's always been trying to replicate that win ever since.

"That has resulted in him being before the court."

Mr Horne said Lleshi admitted he "had become a slave to gambling" adding, "he was glad that he got caught so that he got stopped".

"He is extremely remorseful and is particularly sorry for the trauma he subjected the victims too," he added. "He is a normally law abiding and not a risk to the general public."

Judge Williams accepted he was remorseful but noted the trauma inflicted on the victims.

"You deliberately, in my judgement, went to the casino early in the morning, you grabbed hold of a member of staff - a female - and held a knife to their throat and demanded money.

"On each occasion you obtained substantial sums, totalling £11,574."

She said she had read statements from the victims, adding: "All spoke about the trauma and significant effect on each of them. They have had difficulty going out and at least one has not been able to return to her previous employment.

"I have no doubt they were terrified."

She added: "You committed these offences because you became addicted to gambling.

"You said yourself that you had become a slave to gambling.

"It's a tragedy that you committed such offences that caused such harm to your victims."

She sentenced Lleshi to a total of seven years in prison.

Investigating officer PC Rebecca Howlett of the Chief Constable’s Crime Squad says: "Lleshi’s sentence is reflective of the fear he brought to those inside the amusement centres.

"He didn’t care about how his actions affected others and was acting with the sole purpose of illegally gaining money to fund a gambling addiction.

"Not only did he commit the offence in Gillingham but he had previously committed other similar offences which also instilled fear in his victims and I’m pleased he has been handed this sentence."

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