Unladylike walk foils burglars in burkas

TWO men dressed in burkas who held up a pawnbrokers were exposed after passers-by realised “they didn’t walk like women”.

Michael Lindo, 34, and Aaron Dumetz, 24, have been jailed for a total of 20 years after threatening two female staff with an imitation firearm.

Witnesses alerted police to the pair when they noticed them walking suspiciously. Officers tackled the men as they fled, despite not being armed. The robbers forced staff to access the safe in the pawn shop as they were preparing to open the shop for the day.

They made off with £44,000 of jewellery and £10,000 in cash from the shop in Brixton, south London.

The police officers who chased and caught the men were praised for their bravery in confronting them, despite not knowing the gun was fake.

Judge Nic Madge described the robbery, which took place in May, as “professional” and “carefully planned”.

He also said it would have been difficult to identify the pair because of their burkas if members of the public and the police had not intervened. Lindo, a football coach, had previous convictions for robbery or attempted robbery. He was jailed for 11 years.

Dumetz, a trainee carpenter, was given a nine-year prison sentence at Inner London Crown Court.

Det Sgt Gary Ferguson said: “On behalf of Met’s Flying Squad, I would like to thank the local Lambeth police officers who bravely followed the two robbers from the scene and tackled them, despite not knowing at that time if the firearm used in the robbery was real or not.”