Jail for masked robber in £30,000 supermarket raid

Gordon McCallum was part of a duo who smashed their way in to a newsagents in Armitage near Rugeley and a petrol station in Burntwood to steal thousands of pounds worth of cigarettes.

The supermarket raid took place at Asda in Somerset on December 4.

The 28-year-old was one of two who smashed the front door of John's Newsagents, in Armitage on January 12. The cigarette display was forced open with garden shears and around £2,000 worth of cigarettes were stolen.

A concrete post was used to smash into the newsagents and the noise woke a neighbour who called police.

The owner was said to have been crippled financially by the break in and is now frightened to leave the shop at night, Stafford Crown Court heard on Friday.

McCallum was also involved in a similar raid at Morrison's petrol station in Burntwood on July 4 last year. A hole was cut in the roof and £1,300 worth of cigarettes taken.

While at the supermarket, two masked men armed with crow bar type weapons forced their way in through the fire exit after the store was closed to the public.

They threatened staff who were stacking shelves. The raiders then made their way to the self-service checkouts and broke in to 10 of them stealing more than £29,000. Getaway cars were waiting outside for the robbers to escape.

McCallum, aged 28, of Bedworth, admitted two charges of burglary, one of robbery and a separate offence of inflicting grievous bodily harm by punching a man in a Warwickshire pub.

At the newsagents, a plastic mask was left behind, at the petrol station a metal bar was recovered and at the supermarket the defendant dropped his watch. All three items had his DNA on them.

Mr Bernard Linnemann, prosecuting, said McCallum was linked to the burglaries and the robbery by DNA evidence. The defendant's accomplice in the burglaries and the supermarket raid has not yet been caught.

Regarding the Staffordshire burglaries, Judge Michael Chambers QC, said: "Clearly these premises were targeted, looking for high value goods and showed some degree of planning."

The victim of the pub attack in January this year was punched in the face by McCallum and had to undergo an operation to repair a displaced cheek fracture.

Mr Darron Whitehead, defending, said McCallum's partner had kicked him out in 2014 because of his alcohol and drug abuse in an effort to get him to sort himself out.

"Sadly he turned to friends and was involved in these offences," he said. "His partner now wants to make another go of the relationship and is pregnant with their third child."