Five men have been convicted of carrying out a daytime raid at a Birmingham jewellers stealing 4-5 kilos of 22 carat gold jewellery worth nearly £300,000.
The robbers stole jewellery, worth £292,165 in total, during the raid at Danyaal Jewellers in Sparkbrook after smashing a stolen Toyota Hilux into the front of the shop on March 3 last year.
Three of the men armed with a sledgehammer then went inside, smashing their way into two display cabinets, and began stashing jewellery in bags while the fourth man remained in the Hilux and a fifth man acted as ‘crowd control’ waving an axe at witnesses.
Footage of the raid was caught on Danyaal Jewellers own CCTV while mobile phone footage taken by members of the public also captured the dramatic raid.
Five men were today found guilty of conspiracy to rob and possessing an offensive weapon following a four-week trial at Birmingham Crown Court, after police were able to prove they were all present at the scene of the robbery.
The five men convicted were John Gourlay, aged 49, from Pershore Road, Selly Oak; Trevor Leek, aged 44, of Southgate Road, Kingstanding, Justin Boylan, aged 51, of Schoolacre Road, Shard End, Arfan Latif, aged 38, from Kinver Croft, Balsall Heath and Hassan Zulfiqar, aged 26, also from Kinver Croft.
Gourlay had already admitted stealing the Hilux, fraud by false representation and converting criminal property. Leek was found not guilty of an additional count of theft of the Hilux.
The gang used three vehicles during the raid, which included a black Land Rover Discovery, a white Toyota Hilux and a black Toyota Corolla.
The Land Rover and Toyota Corolla was used to block the road either side of the jewellers while the Hilux reversed into the store.
A staff member was in the store at the time of the offence and was nearly struck by falling debris when the Toyota Hilux reversed into the shop.
All five men then made off in the Land Rover and Hilux, with the Toyota Corolla being left at the scene.
CCTV footage captured them abandoning the vehicles on King Street, Sparkbrook, before getting into a stolen Audi TTS and BMW 420 they had parked there less than an hour prior.
CCTV showed Zulfiqar going to an auto-parts store on Charles Henry Street, Birmingham on 3 March just before 12pm in the Audi TT, and purchasing tape / pads for affixing number plates. Police were able to link Zulfiqar to the stolen Land Rover after recovering backings to the pads within the vehicle, these backings were found to have his thumb prints on.
On the same day Gourlay drove to the Jewellery Quarter in the BMW and sold a gold bangle stolen in the raid for £1500. Officers were able to link him to the raid as his fingerprints were on the sale sheet and he was wearing the same clothing as when he was captured on CCTV.
Officers carried out a thorough investigation and managed to link all five men through extensive phone investigative work, which linked the suspects before they carried out the raid and also linked their movements and connection with the vehicles during the raid.
Officers also managed to link data recovered from the Land Rover, which showed the group taking possession of the vehicle on 23 February last year. It showed the movement of the vehicle, indicating it was parked near Kinver Croft where Latif and Zulfiqar both lived, Southgate Road where Leek lived and Schoolacre Road where Boylan lived.
Tags from the stolen jewellery were also found on the sofa at Boylan’s home after the raid.
DC Patrick Fuldun, from the Force Priorities Team, said: “This was clearly an extensively planned armed robbery, with careful thought by the five defendants going into disguising themselves, the vehicles and the locations of their phones.
“This robbery took place in broad daylight, on a busy street, and must have been horrendous for anyone witnessing it. The staff member inside narrowly escaped serious injury, if not worse.
“The offenders managed to make off with nearly £300,000 in jewellery. However, after excellent investigative work from our officers we were able to provide sufficient evidence for the jury to convict all five men for being present during the raid. We are delighted that all five have been convicted. It is a testament to the tenacity of officers at West Midlands Police and a firm deterrent to criminals considering a similar crime.”
They will be sentenced next month.