Jailed: Masked robbers armed with hammer and knife in shop raid
Two robbers who raided a One Stop store armed with a hammer and knife have been jailed.
Paul McGarry, 50, of Clifford Grove, in Market Drayton, and Callum Simpson, 30, from Birmingham, were both wearing balaclavas when they entered the Springfield Road store in Sutton Coldfield on March 14.
Armed with a hammer, one of the men shouted at staff while hitting the protective screens on the counters. The man then went behind the counter, holding the hammer up towards a staff member who opened the till while the man emptied it.
The second man then came behind the counter and emptied the tobacco shelves into a bag.
Both men left the shop after emptying the second till – taking £450 in cash and £100 worth of cigarettes.
They fled in a VW Golf and at the time West Midlands Police put an appeal out asking for witnesses to come forward. The appeal worked and a member of the public provided the car registration plate, which officers were then able to trace after it activated an ANPR camera.
Items found in the car by officers, including homemade balaclavas, a silver Stanley knife and a hammer, were linked to the raid and used as evidence against the two men who pleaded guilty to robbery.
McGarry and Simpson, of Francis Road, in Erdington, were jailed for four-and-a-half years each at Birmingham Crown Court on Thursday, May 20.
DC Claire Smith, from West Midlands Police's Force CID High Harm Team, said: “This was a violent robbery that was clearly a shocking experience for staff members and customers.
“Both men have now rightly been handed jail time for their reckless behaviour which caused great distress to innocent members of the community.”
