Jailed: Thug pointed fake gun at house while on bail for two robberies

Arun Hudin struck first when he mercilessly ignored the pleas of a woman not to steal three gold chains that belonged to her recently deceased mother.

The 22-year-old tore the jewellery from around the neck of the victim and snarled: "Shut up or you are going to get hurt," Wolverhampton Crown Court was told.

Miss Joanne Wallbanks, prosecuting, said: "She had been the main carer of her mother who had died months earlier. She pleaded with the defendant and told him 'they are my mum's and she has just passed away' but that did not bother him and he took them anyway."

It happened when Hudin and two other men snatched the ignition key out of a car in which the woman and a male friend were travelling as soon as it came to a standstill outside a parade of shops in New Invention, Willenhall, on May 20 last year.

The woman got out of the vehicle and tried to get away but he chased after her and grabbed the chains while she stood pleading in the street, continued Miss Wallbanks. He also took £35 cash from the man in the car.

Hudin was traced and arrested but had been released on bail pending further inquiries when he got into an argument in Whitegates Road, Coseley, on July 21, said the prosecutor.

The dispute stemmed from him riding a mini-moto around the area. Hudin returned to the scene four hours later after getting an imitation firearm from his home.

Miss Wallbanks explained: "He stood outside the home of the person involved in the earlier confrontation, pulled out the black handgun, went through the motion of cocking it and pointed it at one of the windows. Those inside feared that it might be fired."

Mr Dean Kershaw, defending, conceded: "He returned to get the person. There had been trouble before with this group of boys and he wanted to show that enough was enough."

The weapon was never found but the lawyer said it had been a BB gun.

The woman who had the gold chains ripped from her neck later told police: "The monetary value is irrelevant but in sentimental terms they were priceless. They were part of my mum and I will never get them back."

Hudin from Masters Lane, Halesowen, was found guilty of the two robberies at trial after denying the offences but admitted possession of the imitation firearm.

Judge Amjad Nawaz told him: "These were nasty robberies on two people who were in the wrong place at the wrong time. Some weeks later you rather foolishly returned to the scene of an unrelated altercation and deliberately put yourself in view so that the complainant could see you and what you had in your hand, creating considerable fear."