Robber lured victim on ebay

A teenage thug who used ebay to lure a commercial gold buyer into a gun point ambush in West Bromwich while on bail for another robbery has been put behind bars for six years.

Christopher Samuels put the weapon to the temple of the buyer and threatened to 'blow his head off' after taking him to an isolated car park.

The 18-year-old had put up a gold chain for sale on the internet auction site and accepted the £1,300 offer from the gold buyer.

A string of text messages took him to near The Marksman pub in Carters Green, at lunchtime on July 29, Wolverhampton Crown Court was yesterday told.

Prosecutor Mark Phillips said Samuels told him he had left the chain in his car which was parked elsewhere. The victim was taken to the nearby car park.

Mr Phillips said: "Samuels then pulled out a blue plastic bag that had all the appearance of a hand gun, pressed it against the temple of the man and said: 'Hand me the money or I will blow your head off'."

Two men then beat the victim up and were ordered by Samuels to search his pockets. They discovered a bag of scrap gold bought earlier for £4,000. The gunman and his accomplices fled.

Samuels sold part of the haul to Cashline pawnbrokers in West Bromwich for £130. Police investigating the robbery visited the store as part of their investigation and recognised Samuels from the shop CCTV film of the incident. He was arrested two weeks later having put the chainput back up for sale on ebay.

Father-of-one Samuels of Turner Street, West Bromwich was on bail at the time after putting a knife to the throat of a 15-year-old girl and robbing her of two mobile phones and £15 cash.

Samuels admitted robbery and possession of an imitation firearm and was sentenced to six years custody.