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Thieves make off with lunch box of sarnies during bungled robbery

Two men involved in a bungled robbery during which a masked gang escaped with just a lunch box full of sandwiches were today behind bars.

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Shopkeeper Satwant Singh was targeted in a perfectly timed 'sophisticated' raid, Wolverhampton Crown Court heard.

His home had been staked out for at least an hour before the four-strong gang struck when he left the Tividale address to cross the road to his parked car at 9.30am, revealed Mr Andrew Wilkins, prosecuting.

A Vauxhall Astra driven by 45-year-old Satnam Sidhu halted alongside Mr Singh and two hooded men leapt from the vehicle.

The victim was knocked to the ground and kicked by the pair who grabbed the bag he had been carrying before jumping back into the Astra which sped off followed by a Renault Megane with 20-year-old Abdullah Velmurgathasan – who had been keeping watch – at the wheel.

Mr Singh runs a shop in Warwick and the gang wrongly believed he would be carrying cash and goods when all he had was a £2 lunch box, the court was told.

The raiders rushed to the Job Centre at Small Heath in a bid to provide themselves with an alibi for the robbery and the two defendants then went to sell the Astra in Daralaston where they were arrested.

The two men who attacked Mr Singh, causing cuts and bruises, have still not been traced.

Mr Mohammed Hafeez, defending, argued that father-of-one Velmurgathasan – who had previous convictions for 21 offences – did not play a major role in the robbery which took place on June 12, 2015.

Miss Cathlyn Orchard, representing Sidhu, pointed out that he had gone straight for 14 years, and said: "He regrets getting involved in this enterprise.

"It was as a result of somebody else's suggestion but this is as far as he will go. He feels very sorry for the complainant."

Sidhu, from David Peacock Close, Tipton, pleaded guilty to robbery and was jailed for four and a half years while Velmurgathasan, of no fixed address, denied the offence but was convicted by a jury.

He was sent to a Young Offenders Institution for six years.

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