Thieves made Great Barr teen withdraw life savings

A gang of thieves marched a teenager from his home and made him withdraw his entire savings from his bank account, police have revealed.

Police say the robbers targeted the 18-year-old victim three times – even threatening to kill him. Now officers have released a CCTV image of one of the suspects. Two teenagers have already been arrested and bailed.

The gang of four visited the victim's Great Barr home on May 16 and forced him to go with them to the bank.

When they got there, two men walked him into the bank and forced him to withdraw hundreds of pounds before taking the money and fleeing.

Three of the four men had already robbed the victim a day earlier, when they took him to a cash machine, forcing him to withdraw £300 – the maximum daily limit for his account.

He was so scared by the threats they made against him that he initially did not report offences, but after one of the offenders returned to his house for a third time, he contacted police.

Det Con Kim Savage, from West Midlands Police, said: "These offenders stopped at nothing to get this innocent man to hand over his cash, threatening even to take his life.

"Although no violence was actually used, it was clearly a very frightening experience for the victim, which has left him extremely shaken and upset.

"We need to ensure the people responsible for this nasty crime are made to pay for their actions and are brought to justice."

She added: "I would encourage anyone who recognises the man in the images, or who knows anything about who is responsible for this offence, to contact us as soon as possible."

Two 19-year-old men have been arrested in connection with the investigation and are currently on police bail pending further inquiries into the incidents.