A MAN has been jailed for six years for robbing vulnerable people - including an 83-year-old woman at knife point.
RamaStua, 23 of Mapesbury Road, Brondesbury, was the ring leader in agroup which carried out robberies on bank customers in Preston Road,Kenton Road, Ealing Road and Kingsbury Road, all in Wembley.
Hewas sentenced at Harrow Crown Court on Thursday after admitting four ofthe robberies and being found guilty by trial of a further offence ofrobbery and one of theft.
Duringthe planned attacks, Stua would enter the banks and behave like acustomer, joining the queue for the cashier desk, or loitering near theentrance.
There, he would survey the customers entering the bank and select a potential victim.
Then Stua would phone an accomplice waiting outside to tell him to follow the victim once they leave the bank.
The victim would then be attacked on a quiet road or outside their home.
Apolice spokesman said the majority of the victims were physicallyattacked and threatened, including an 83-year-old woman who had a knifeplaced to her shoulder in order to make her hand over her handbag.
JudgeAnderson said: Stua was a pivotal member of a criminal team - who wasgreedy for money and prepared to do whatever was required to get thatmoney.
Detective SergeantMark Fletcher from Brent Priority Crime Unit said: These were cowardlyattacks committed against victims who were unlikely to fight back.
Theevidence indicated Stua was the ring leader. The majority of evidencecollated against the robbery team came from telephone evidence and CCTVfrom banking premises.
Stuawas arrested in Wembley on July 22 last year and charged with carryingout six robberies between January 21 and April 4 the same year.
He admitted four of the offences at Harrow Crown Court on October 24 and denied a further two.
At the same court on January 9, Stua was convicted of the two counts, though with one being reduced to theft.
