Botched Kidderminster raid brothers' appeal rejected

Craig and Michael Stubbs were foiled in their plan to rob a cash delivery van outside Tesco Express in Stourbridge Road on June 11 when they turned up an hour late.

Michael Stubbs and a third man, Jamie Barton, ran off but getaway driver Craig Stubbs, aged 28, of Old Fallings Crescent, Wolverhampton, tried to ram his way free out of a residential cul-de-sac as the police closed in.

In trying to get away he crushed a police officer against a police van.

The car he used was a £70,000 sports car stolen from Wolves and Togolese winger Razak Boukari.

Craig Stubbs admitted causing grievous bodily harm, two assaults with intent to resist arrest and conspiracy to rob and was given a 16-year extended sentence at Worcester Crown Court last November.

Yesterday, at the Court of Appeal, Mr Justice Irwin rejected an appeal against the sentence.

An appeal by 27-year-old Michael Stubbs, of Higham Way, Wolverhampton, against his eight-year sentence for conspiracy to rob was also rejected.

Yesterday, lawyers representing the Stubbs brothers argued that their sentences were too tough.

The Court of Appeal heard that the three men planned to rob G4S cash-in-transit delivery men at the Tesco Express in Stourbridge Road on June 11 last year.

They arrived wearing hoods and armed with a hammer, but turned up at the back of the store an hour too late.

Police were alerted by members of the public who grew suspicious after seeing the sports car parked in Stoney Lane.

As officers arrived Michael Stubbs and Barton ran off.

But Craig Stubbs immediately began trying to ram his way out of trouble in the BMW performance car they had arrived in.

One officer got inside the passenger seat of the car before another officer, called Pc Jonathan Townsend, smashed the window next to Craig Stubbs and attempted to take out the keys from the ignition.

But Craig Stubbs slammed the car into reverse and crushed Pc Townsend against a police van parked in the lane.

Craig Stubbs then went through some trees in a resident's front drive, hitting her car and becoming lodged on a low wall.

All three men were arrested.

Mr Justice Irwin said: "This led to no actual robbery of cash, but it caused mayhem, injury and damage on a significant scale.

"It must have been very obvious to Craig Stubbs at the time, whether or not his principle motivation was to escape, that he was liable to cause really severe injury to the police officer."

Jamie Barton, 29, of Park Lane, was jailed for five years for conspiracy to commit robbery at the sentencing hearing last year.