A GUN-WIELDING robber who targeted a bookies in Stanmore and forced staff and customers to hand over cash has been sentenced to six years in jail.
Two men wearing balaclavas raided the Corals betting shop in Honeypot Lane on March 13, last year, one armed with a hand gun and the other with a knife.
Officers attended the scene and were told how one of the suspects had held a knife to the throat of a customer forcing him to hand over £400 in winnings, while a second suspect, armed with a handgun and threatening to use it, approached a member of staff working behind the counter demanding cash.
Fearing for her life, she was forced into handing over £250 in cash.
Both men were seen running out of the shop and getting into a blue Vauxhall Corsa which was waiting in an alleyway behind the shops.
Glen Phillips (pictured), of Mead Road, Edgware, was identified following extensive enquiries by officers and was arrested in September last year.
During a search of the 31-year-old's home address, officers found the exact clothing worn in the robbery hidden in the eaves of his loft.
Both men were charged on 28 October with being in possession of a firearm, being in possession of an offensive weapon and two counts of robbery.
Phillips pleaded guilty to two counts of robbery at an earlier hearing and subsequently admitted to the firearms and offensive weapon offence at the first day of trial at Harrow Crown Court on March 13.
He was jailed for six years at the same court on March 21 while the second man charged Jerome Graham-Kitt, 26 of Harrow, was acquitted of two counts of theft, being in possession of a firearm and being in possession of an offensive weapon, following a six-day trial at Harrow Crown Court.
Speaking after the sentencing, investigating officer Detective Constable John Baker of Finchley Flying Squad said: "Glen Phillips carried out this robbery in a particularly ruthless and barbarous manner causing long term trauma and fear to several members of staff and members of the public.
"This investigation provides a clear example of the determination and ability, for which has long been synonymous with the Flying Squad, to reactively investigate offences of weapon enabled commercial robbery and bring those offenders to justice."
