Robber arrested under kitchen sink just hours after bookies raid

A robber who held-up a Birmingham bookmakers has been jailed after West Midlands Police detectives tracked him down in a matter of hours – and found him hiding in a washing machine alcove.

Chris King was shown on CCTV in the Coral branch on East Meadway, Tile Hill, on the evening of 31 October and stormed out after squandering cash on a fruit machine.

He returned minutes later wearing a hooded top pulled up over his head and, with one hand in his jacket pocket, gestured he was armed with a gun.

King, of no fixed address, smashed a security glass panel – leaving one staff member with a cut head – and reached over the counter having grabbed just over £100 from a till.

The next day officers from the Birmingham East High Harm Team seized CCTV showing King on a white pedal cycle making off into nearby Midlands Croft where the bike was found in a block of flats.

They forced entry to a flat and found the 40-year-old beneath a kitchen work surface in a space designed for a washing machine. 

He went on to admit robbery and assault and at Birmingham Crown Court on Friday (29 Nov) was jailed for 40 months.

West Midlands Police Detective Constable Craig Tennant, said: “The robbery took place at 8.10pm on 31 October. We started work at 7am the following morning; by 1pm King was arrested and by 8pm he’d been charged. It was all done and dusted inside 24 hours.

“King grabbed one female member of staff and intimated he had a firearm; we strongly suspect he was pointing his fingers inside his jacket pocket but staff understandably took the threat seriously at the time.

“We traced the white bike King used to a nearby cul-de-sac where he was arrested inside a flat. We also found a ‘declined’ receipt showing King had tried to use a bank card to continue playing on the fruit machine before he stormed out.

“King has a £100 a day heroin habit and there is little doubt he would have continued offending in order to fund that addiction, so it was important we managed to get him in police custody before he could commit further offences.”