CCTV shows how Black Country jewellery raid was foiled

These dramatic pictures capture the moment two ruthless gunmen were foiled during a terrifying bid to rob a Black Country jewellers.

The startling CCTV images were released by police as robbers Sandeep Singh and Sandeep Kumar started 12 and 10-year jail sentences today.

The pair posed as customers to trick their way into Jai Jewellers in Cape Hill, Smethwick before pulling 9mm handguns on horrified owner Deepak Gogna and his wife.

Mr Gogna was pistol whipped but still managed to activate an alarm that filled the store with smoke, allowing him and and his wife to slip out of the back. Singh frantically tried to shoot his way out by aiming his gun, that was loaded with live ammunition, at the front window of the store where a group of school children had gathered at 3.30pm on November 10 last year.

Luckily it jammed when the 27-year-old pulled the trigger forcing him and Kumar, aged 26, to try to shatter the reinforced plate glass with chairs.

The desperate duo battered a hole in the window but it was not large enough to climb through and passers-by tried to block their escape route by pulling down the shutters.

The robbers managed to fumble through the fog of white smoke blanketing the room to find the button that released the first of two doors leading to the street. This locked behind the raiders as they went through only to find that they could not open the next one, leaving the pair imprisoned in the air-lock between the two doors.

Emergency services arrived and fire crews spent 10 minutes cutting away the outer door to allow waiting armed police to disarm and arrest Singh and Kumar, whose gun did not have a firing pin.

Mr Gogna said today: "Initially my wife and I felt shocked and worried that it could happen again. We now treat all customers with suspicion and still have nightmares."

The robbery came less than a month after a similar attack on Dulhan Jewellers in Palfrey, Walsall, on October 13, where only Singh was involved.

He appeared to be a customer and was allowed into the premises where he pulled out an imitation handgun on owner Waheed Ahmad before opening the security doors for three men who emptied £96,000 worth of jewellery into laundry bags along with £1,700 cash from the safe.

The gang escaped in a stolen transit van that was dumped nearby. Another transit van was captured on CCTV parked outside Jai Jewellers during the bungled raid.

It was driven away when it became obvious that the two robbers were not coming out and was later found abandoned nearby. Distinctively-coloured laundry bags like those used to carry away jewellery from the earlier raid were found inside the vehicle.

Singh and Kumar, both of Chantry Road, Handsworth, were jailed at Wolverhampton Crown Court yesterday afternoon. Singh pleaded guilty to robbery, attempted robbery and possession of a firearm and was sentenced to 12 years while Kumar got 10 years after admitting attempted robbery and possessing a firearm.