Police has tracked down a bungling armed robber, after staff at a branch of Ladbrokes reported a man ploughing hundreds of pounds into gaming machines, with notes stained with dye.
Usman Ali, aged 26 and from Green Lane in Small Heath, threatened a Loomis driver with a hammer outside a Wickes store last July before escaping with a cash box containing around £14,000. His victim later told police the robber resembled the Cat in the classic BBC show, played by actor Danny John-Jules.
The following day staff at a branch of Ladbrokes, just yards from Ali’s home, reported him. Officers swooped and immediately recognised Ali as the man wanted for the July 26 robbery in Stratford Road, Hall Green.
Scientific analysis of the contaminated notes confirmed they’d come from the stolen cash box.
Ali has now been jailed for eight years after being found guilty of conspiracy to rob.
At the time of the robbery Ali was reportedly on a license having been released from prison part-way through a conviction for supplying Class A drugs. He was arrested as part of a Birmingham-wide crackdown on drug dealing by West Midlands Police. He will now have to serve the remainder of that sentence − which runs until September 2016 − before his eight year robbery term begins.
