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Ten years each for Wolverhampton bookmakers armed robbers

Three teenage armed robbers who threatened to shoot a Black Country bookmaker during a terrifying heist were each beginning 10-year jail sentences today.

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Three teenage armed robbers who threatened to shoot a Black Country bookmaker during a terrifying heist were each beginning 10-year jail sentences today.

Gunman Daniel Sedgwick, aged 19, was "out of control" and could have fired the handgun and killed a member of staff during the raid at a William Hill branch in Wolverhampton, a judge said.

He and former Highfields School pupils Cameron Wilkinson, 18, and 19-year-old Ryan Graham, who acted as lookout and getaway driver, were yesterday found guilty of robbery and firearms charges following the raid on August 4 last year.

Sedgwick, once a promising footballer at West Bromwich Albion's academy, stormed into the Penn Road shop, pointing the gun at assistant manager Shaun Featonby and said: "Do you want to die? Do you want to get shot? Give me the money."

Mr Featonby handed over more than £300 and Sedgwick and Wilkinson fled into the waiting Peugeot 206 of Ryan Graham. Pub landlord Bill Reece was inside the shop at the time of the raid and gave chase.

They dropped some stolen notes as they ran to the car before driving from the scene. But a member of the public spotted the getaway car and passed details to the police.

All three were arrested within 15 minutes. Today police released new pictures of the revolver Sedgwick used, and which was recovered from Showell Lane, Lower Penn, after Graham told officers where it was.

Graham, of Hamble Road, Warstones, was sentenced separately from his co-accused at Wolverhampton Crown Court yesterday as he had implicated Sedgwick, of Rutland Avenue, Warstones, and Wilkinson, of Myrtle Grove, Penn, during the trial.

Judge Challinor said: "You represent a dangerous gang of robbers. It was a group attack, clearly pre-meditated and the firearm was loaded with a live round."

The three will be released after serving half of their sentences, but Judge Challinor warned them to expect life sentences were they ever to be convicted of serious crime in the future. As they were led down, Sedgwick and Wilkinson waved at the public gallery.

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