Pawnbroker axe raider admits gem and watch robbery

● Terrifying heist saw man and accomplice make off with 12 Rolexes

A thief who tried to evade justice by hiding in Spain stole 12 Rolex watches and jewellery worth £76,648 during a “terrifying” robbery at a pawnbrokers, a court has heard.

Gareth Edwards, 25, and an unidentifiedaccompliceraidedduncanson and Edwards Pawn Shop in Queen Street, Edinburgh, on 15 January, 2014.

The High Court in Edinburgh heard how Edwards and his partner entered the shop at 4:50pm with their faces covered.

The second raider – who had a northern English accent – brandished an axe in the face of a shopper and shouted: “Get on the floor or I will chop you and chop the others.”

Edwards, originally from Manchester, jumped over display cases and removed designer watches and other items worth tens of thousands of pounds.

The pair then fled the store on mountain bikes. Edwards was caught after Greater Manchester Police officers were called into help Scottish colleagues who suspected that gangsters from the north west carried out the raid.

But he skipped bail ahead of a high court appearance last year and headed for Benidorm. He was later extradited back to the UK.

Edwards, a prisoner of HMP

0 Duncanson and Edwards pawnbrokers in Edinburgh Saughton, yesterday pleaded guilty to charges of armed robbery and failing to appear in court.

Prosecutor Stephen Mccloy told the court that Edwards had previously been convicted at Manchester Crown Court and received a 44-month sentence for robbery.

After being released from that sentence, Edwards headed north to Edinburgh with another man.

Judge Weir adjourned sentence and ordered a report into Edwards’s character.

He will be sentenced in August.