Gun raid duo JAILED
Two men sent down over gun raid at bookies
TWO men have been jailed after a Llandudno betting shop was held up at gunpoint.
Jaher Miah ran into the shop in Gloddaeth Street with an air gun pistol and told the terrified cashier: “Give me the money or I’ll shoot you”.
Miah, 21, who had part of his face covered with a bandana, had also threatened to open fire if the police were called.
As he was pointing the gun, he pulled back the mechanism and handed over a bag, which the cashier Peter Halliday put £213 into.
Mold Crown Court yesterday heard that Miah’s partner in crime, Andrew Owens, 21, of Maes Clyd, Llandudno, worked at another William Hill bookies in the town.
While he was not directly involved in the robbery, he was found guilty of conspiring with Miah and sentenced to two and a half years in prison.
Miah, of Carmen Sylva Way in Llandudno, was sent to jail for four and a half years.
Prosecutor Simon Mills told the court that a man working near the betting shop saw a BMW with the letters M and X in the registration which had been driven around the area in a suspicious manner.
A woman had seen a man walking near the shop the previous evening and another had spotted two men, their faces covered.
Miah was arrested when he turned up in the BMW at the shop where Owens worked at 6.30pm on the day of the robbery.
Mr Mills read a series of texts which had passed between the two men, planning the robbery.
Further inquiries revealed that Miah, a delivery man, had debts of £1,500.
He lied to police about trying to get a haircut at the time of the robbery.
Owens had been arrested at his home two days after the robbery.
In an impact statement Mr Halliday said a security screen had since been erected at the bookie’s which isolated him from customers, and it was “no longer the job it used to be”.
The robbery had a massive impact on his wife, who wanted to leave the area.
Owen Edwards, for Miah, said he came from an impeccable background and there was another side to his character.
He had a good working record and acknowledged the seriousness of what he had done.
Barrister Duncan Bould, for Owens, said he came from a hard working family and was remorseful.
Passing sentence Judge Rowlands said Miah had been smoking cannabis since the age of 11 and was £2,000 in debt, and Owens, smoking it since 15, had a debt of £3,000 with a £20-a-day habit.
“It ought to be a salutary lesson to anyone thinking of smoking cannabis from a young age,” commented the judge.
He said Owens had been guilty of “a very serious breach of trust” towards his employers whereas Miah had taken an imitation firearm, pointing it straight at Mr Halliday.