Teenage robbers jailed after jewellery store raid

Saturday, February 2, 2013
10:09 AM

Two teenagers who raided a jewellery store in Edgware before shooting at members of the public as they were chased have been jailed.

Momim Hassan, 17, of Devonshire Road, Barnet, and Tajwar Shah, 16, of St Edmunds Drive, Stanmore, went armed with a hammer and a blank firing gun to Vinsons Jewellers in Station Road on November 16 last year.

Hassan also pleaded guilty to possessing a stun gun.

The pair was jailed for four years and three-and-a-half years respectively at Wood Green Crown Court yesterday. They were named after a judge lifted restrictions that prevented them being identified.

They had pleaded guilty at an earlier hearing to robbery and possession of an imitation firearm, Scotland Yard said.

The court heard at 11.20am they went to the shop front, smashed a window with the hammer and tried to steal some of the jewellery on display.

But a female staff member challenged them and they got into a struggle, during which Shah fired the gun into the air.

Passers-by and other shop workers chased the pair down nearby Station Road and Shah turned his gun on them, firing in their direction.

The pursuers then spotted the two boys trying to change their clothes in a car park, and after another chase the pair were caught by members of the public, before being arrested by police.

Officers found a bag belonging to the teenagers which contained a stun gun and a key to a car parked nearby which had false number plates and had been taken from a relative of Shah’s without them knowing.

Speaking after the sentencing, Detective Constable Tim Fines, from the Flying Squad, said: “The judge has commended the bravery of those members of the public who pursued and detained these two males - I would like to reiterate this praise.

“Thanks to their efforts, and the efforts of officers who attended the scene, two dangerous males are behind bars.”