Prison for robbers who struck during the riots

Two robbers, who were part of a gang that cashed in on the summer riots by raiding a supermarket while police were busy with looters, have been locked up.

The gang struck at Tesco Express in Great Barr while officers focused their efforts on the widespread disruption and violence which broke out in Wolverhampton and West Bromwich.

Up to five masked crooks burst into the store in Hamstead Road at 7.30pm on August 9. Jerome Walters and Anthony Sinclair had driven them to the scene of the robbery.

Sinclair was today behind bars for seven years and Walters for six years and four months.

Staff members Paul Hayes and James McHuch were punched and kicked when they were unable to hand over the keys to the manager's office where the safe was kept.

Prosecutor Mrs Sati Ruck told Wolverhampton Crown Court yesterday that both men were badly injured. Two of their colleagues were forced to open the tills, from which £763 was stolen.

The court heard how witnesses spotted the gang being dropped off at Welsby Avenue, around the corner from the store just before the robbery. Mrs Ruck said: "They saw a BMW and white van pull up and a number of men get out.

"Both vehicles later went round to the front of the store where the BMW was seen to pick up two men. The van also drove past."

Members of the public took the registration numbers of both the van and the saloon and these details were passed on to detectives.

Inquiries soon revealed that the drivers of both had used their own vehicles on the raid. There was no evidence that either was among those who entered the store.

Walters, aged 31, from Edgar Court, Tanhouse Avenue, Hamstead, Great Barr, had been behind the wheel of the BMW and was arrested at home four days later.

Police swooped on the Meadow Gate, Northfield, home of 25-year-old Sinclair. He was out but walked into a police station later to give himself up. Both men admitted their part in the raid and pleaded guilty to robbery.