Novice newsagent robber jailed after striking twice in 24 hours

Hooded Craig Jewkes brandished a machete with a two-foot blade as he snatched hundreds of pounds of cash and a few packets of cigarettes in terrifying raids on street corner newsagents, a judge heard.

Jewkes, who had no previous convictions, struck first at New Street News in Quarry Bank at around 9.30pm on December 28 when there no customers in the store and Sukhvir Singh was alone behind the counter.

The defendant ordered him to empty the till and give the money to him.

He demanded more when given £70 but had to settle for three packets of cigarettes when told that was all the money Mr Singh had, Mrs Sati Ruck, prosecuting, told Wolverhampton Crown Court.

Two days later Jewkes walked into H.K. News and Booze in Brettell Lane, Dudley at 6.30pm wearing the balaclava and armed with the same weapon.

There were no customers in the shop and Charanjeet Singh was the only person on duty. He thought it was a joke until he saw the machete - then handed over £250 from the till and three packets of cigarettes.

This shop had CCTV outside which the bungling raider stood in front of for four minutes before putting on his hood. He also parked his getaway car within the camera’s range, revealed Mrs Ruck.

Police got the name and address of the vehicle’s owner from the registration number and arrested Jewkes at his home.

He told officers the robberies were spur of the moment decisions and said he had thrown the machete away.

Mr Nicholas Berry, defending, said the building worker had battled with a 20-year-drug addiction together with mental health issues and was short of money.

To make matters worse the parents, who propped him up when needed, were both seriously ill, continued the lawyer who maintained: “This is a man who will use his time in prison constructively and is highly unlikely to offend again.”

The defendant, from New Pool Road, Cradley Heath, pleaded guilty to the two robberies and was sent to prison by Judge Abbas Mithani QC who said: “These were plainly not professional robberies but were not likely to have been any less frightening for the victims.

"This was the first time you have been involved in any offending and was totally out of character but the public must be protected from such behaviour and others deterred from committing similar offences.”