Jail for robber who was armed with screwdriver

A masked robber who took part in a terrifying armed raid on a factory, in which two workers were ordered to lie on the floor and open the company safe, was today behind bars.

Adoni Richards and an unidentified knife-wielding accomplice burst into engineering company WIRS in Wolverhampton city centre as two members of staff worked late.

The crooks walked into the Church Road plant through the unlocked trade entrance, forced open the security pad on an internal door and headed for the offices where accountant Derek Hayward and account manager Susan Dennis were at their desks.

Prosecutor Miss Rhiannon Jones told Wolverhampton Crown Court yesterday that both were ordered to lie on the floor in their respective rooms as 31-year-old Richards, who was armed with a screwdriver, ordered Mr Hayward to open the safe.

The accountant had to get the keys from his female colleague in the next door office where the other raider had cut the factory phone lines. Richards took a box from the safe holding around £500 cash while his accomplice stole the handbag of Miss Dennis before the pair fled.

Richards was arrested eight days later after forensic tests discovered his genetic fingerprint in a spot of blood found on a piece of paper in one of the offices.

Miss Jones said: "Both members of staff were severely traumatised."

Richards, from Cherwell Drive, Brownhills, who has a string of previous convictions, admitted robbing the couple and has written letters of apology to both.

Jailing him for four years and nine months, Judge Robin Onions told him: "Those who indulge in serious crime will receive serious punishment."