TWO men who carried out a string of armed robberies across west London have been jailed for a total of 27 years.
Alan Whittekind, of Reynolds Road, Hayes, and accomplice Gary Nesbit, of no fixed address, raided a shop in South Ruislip and five bookies in the Middlesex area in March and April last year, visiting in the evening in each case and stealing more than £5,500.
They were convicted for the robberies, and for possession of a firearm in May after a three-week trial at Kingston Crown Court, and they were sentenced on Friday, June 28.
The court heard how the pair, both aged 40, committed their first robbery at Ruislip Superstore, in Station Road, South Ruislip, on March 17 last year. They made off with £600, and Nesbit, wielding a 12-inch kitchen knife, cut a member of staff on the hand during a scuffle.
From then on, the pair brought along a black handgun to robberies, and threatened staff at the shops they raided. On March 30 they struck again in Feltham, at a Betfred shop in High Street, and stole a paltry £235. Next, they targeted Coral bookmakers in South Ealing on April 8, and escaped with £1,100.
Three days later on April 11, £2,500 was stolen from Ladbrokes in Bath Road, Hounslow, and the following Sunday, April 15, a passer-by who tried to intervene during a robbery at Coral Racing, in Uxbridge Road, Pinner, was threatened.
For their final raid, at Betfred in Teignmouth Parade in Perivale, they were masked, and escaped with just £100. The pair were arrested last November, and later charged with conspiracy to commit robbery, and firearm possession. Nesbit faced an additional charge of knife possession.
Whittekind was jailed for 12 years for the robberies, and one year for the firearm offence, to run consecutively.
Nesbit received 13 years and one year respectively, to total 14 years.
