£1,000 phone, tracksuit and jewellery snatched by knife gang near Merry Hill
Police are investigating two robberies near Dudley's Merry Hill Shopping Centre in which a gang armed with knives escaped with a £1,000 mobile phone, a £135 tracksuit and jewellery.
In the first robbery, at about 5pm on Saturday a mobile phone was snatched from a shopper. The gang, aged between 16 and 20, took the item from the victim's pocket and also stole a £135 Hoodrich tracksuit which he had purchased just moments earlier.
West Midlands Police have linked the incident to a separate theft involving a teenage victim who was robbed of items of jewellery and assaulted nearby a short time later.
The force said: "We're investigating reports of two robberies that happened in the Merry Hill area on Saturday.
"A 20-year-old man was robbed in a multi-storey car park at the Merry Hill centre at about 5pm. He was approached by a group of young people who threatened him with a knife and stole his mobile phone.
"They tried to steal a ring from someone else as well, before running off.
"A teenage lad was assaulted by a group of people at around 7.30pm near the Wetherspoons entrance to the shopping centre. Some of his jewellery was stolen.
"We believe the two incidents are linked and we're working with the shopping centre to review CCTV and catch those involved."
Witnesses or anyone with information should contacted via Live Chat at west-midlands.police.uk or phone 101 quoting incident numbers 20/1346031/21 or 20/1346031/21.
