AN ARMED robber was jailed indefinitely at the Old Bailey last Friday for raiding betting shops in Sudbury and Wembley.

Christopher Ameyaw, 22, will serve a minimum of 10 years for attacks on William Hill branches in Greenford Road, Sudbury, and Heather Park Road, Wembley.

His accomplices, Kaland Patterson, 28, and Andre Maynard, 21, were imprisoned for seven and eight years respectively.

Ameyaw burst into the Sudbury bookmakers on February 4 with a handgun but fled in a vehicle when staff refused to surrender cash. A bystander noted the car's number-plate and informed police.

Detectives were then able to have armed officers waiting nine days later when Ameyaw, Patterson and Maynard, held up the Wembley business and threatened cashiers.

Police surrounded Maynard and Patterson as the pair tried to drive off. Ameyaw was disarmed after a violent struggle with police and threats to shoot two plain-clothes police officers who had chased him.

Ameyaw, of Bowes Road, New Southgate, admitted robbery, pos-session of a firearm and possession of a firearm with intent to resist arrest.

Maynard, of Mostyn Avenue, Wembley, and Patterson, of Roundtree Road, Wembley, pleaded guilty to robbery and possessing a firearm with intent.