A man involved in a Christmas Day 2011 robbery that ended in the fatal shooting of a Surrey convenience store worker has been sentenced to five-and-a-half more years in prison.
Ian Clifford Langthorne, 30, had earlier pleaded guilty to going with his accomplice, William Whiteside, to Ken’s Groceries on Dec. 25, 2011 so they could rob the store to get money to buy drugs.
While Langthorne did not have a weapon, Whiteside had a sawed-off rifle which he pointed at 27-year-old store clerk Alok Gupta while Langthorne stole money from the cash register. Langthorne left the store, but as Whiteside was leaving, Gupta startled him and Whiteside pulled the trigger, hitting Gupta in the chest.
The pair made off with between $45 and $65 which they spent on speed. Gupta made it to a nearby house, covered in blood, but later died.
In 2013, Whiteside pleaded guilty to manslaughter and was sentenced to 16 years prison.
Last week in B.C. Supreme Court in New Westminster, Langthorne was sentenced to four-and-a-half years for the fatal Gupta robbery.
At the same hearing, Langthorne was a also sentenced to an additional four years jail for another violent robbery and carjacking just weeks later.
In that incident, Langthorne had met with a man named Nathaniel Wall, who was selling shoes. He met Langthorne, who threatened to slit his throat and stole $30 from his wallet before shoving him into an SUV to take him to a bank machine. Wall managed to escape by jumping from the moving vehicle – hitting his face on the pavement and chipping his tooth – and running to a nearby house and calling 911.
Langthorne was arrested in June 2013. He was given time-and-a-half credit for time he’s spent in prison since then, cutting three years, two months from his combined sentence.
According to the sentencing report, Langthorne has a “long and disturbing” criminal record that began at age 12 and includes 68 convictions, many as a youth. He’s been in prison numerous times and has escaped twice.
He was assessed in 2005 as being a high risk to reoffend and in 2009, had not addressed addiction issues. A psychologist said Langthorne had “entrenched antisocial attitudes and behaviours which are the consequence of extreme childhood neglect.” Records show he was put into foster care at age 12 and had more than 50 foster home placements – many of which he ran away from.
Langthorne has written to the victims of his most recent offences and their families, expressing regret and empathy and taking responsibility for his actions.
In addition to the prison term, he is banned for life from owning firearms.
