Addict caught hiding under kitchen sink after holding up bookmakers

Chris King was tracked down, arrested and charged within hours of him holding up a Coral branch on October 31.

He was shown on CCTV storming out of the bookmakers on East Meadway, Tile Hill, after squandering cash on a fruit machine.

He returned minutes later wearing a hooded top pulled up over his head and, with one hand in his jacket pocket, gestured he was armed with a gun.

King smashed a security glass panel, leaving one staff member with a cut head, and reached over the counter having grabbed more than £100 from a till.

The next day officers seized CCTV showing King on a white bicycle making off into nearby Midlands Croft where the bike was found in a block of flats.

They forced their way into a flat and found the 40-year-old beneath a kitchen work surface in a space designed for a washing machine.

King, of no fixed address, went on to admit robbery and assault and at Birmingham Crown Court was jailed for 40 months.

Det Con Craig Tennant, from West Midlands Police, said: "The robbery took place at 8.10pm on October 31. We started work at 7am the following morning – by 1pm King was arrested and by 8pm he had been charged. It was all done and dusted inside 24 hours.

“King grabbed one female member of staff and intimated he had a firearm – we strongly suspect he was pointing his fingers inside his jacket pocket but staff understandably took the threat seriously at the time.

“We traced the white bike King used to a nearby cul-de-sac where he was arrested inside a flat.

We also found a ‘declined’ receipt showing King had tried to use a bank card to continue playing on the fruit machine before he stormed out.

“King has a £100 a day heroin habit and there is little doubt he would have continued offending in order to fund that addiction, so it was important we managed to get him in police custody before he could commit further offences.”