Three members of an armed gang that donned burkas as disguises during a robbery at a Dundee jeweller’s shop have been jailed for more than 32 years.
Dean King, Anthony Wheeldon and Connor Willis were among the raiders who targeted Walker the Jeweller in Union Street in 2019.
They smashed display cases with weapons and hit a customer with a mallet before fleeing the scene with watches worth thousands of pounds.
A judge told the trio the offences “involved ferocious and frightening violence which followed sophisticated planning”.
Terrifying Dundee raid
The court previously heard how King pretended to tie his shoelace to keep the door of the exclusive jeweller open and allow accomplices from a stolen Ford Kuga on the street to run inside.
Two of them were disguised in full-length outfits “like a burka”, according to witnesses.
Advocate depute Ashley Edwards QC told the High Court in Edinburgh: “They were carrying an axe, a hammer, a mallet and a bag.
“As they entered the store the men shouted and swore and brandished the weapons at the members of staff.”
One customer was struck on the head with a mallet as he tried to intervene.
The gang got away with just two Rolex watches worth £17,850 after a member of staff activated an anti-robbery device, which filled the store with a thick fog.
They fled in the stolen car, which was abandoned nearby in South Victoria Dock Road and another vehicle used to escape the city.
King, 28, Wheeldon, 40 and 24-year-old Willis pled guilty to carrying out the assault and robbery at the Dundee jeweller on September 23, 2019 while acting with others.
Edinburgh robbery
Willis also admitted taking part in an earlier raid with an armed gang on Miena Jewellery shop in Edinburgh’s Great Junction Street on August 31 that year.
Owner Wail Al-Khamis was struck with an axe after the masked men burst in, two wielding axes and another a sledgehammer.
The raiders looted gold chains, coins and other items of jewellery, worth about £27,000, from smashed display cases.
Mr Al-Khamis picked up a fire extinguisher and set it off releasing a cloud of carbon dioxide spray which prompted the robbers to flee.
Blunders help police catch up with trio
Willis was identified on CCTV and his DNA was recovered from a rucksack dropped in the Dundee robbery.
The Ford Kuga was found and further forensic material was recovered – DNA from a vape bottle in Wheeldon’s case and King’s traces on clothes in an abandoned holdall.
King was tracked down in Hamilton in October 2019 and the other two accused were caught in Manchester.
King told police “four boys” with English accents had turned up at his door.
He said they had mallets and an axe and told him he was coming with them.
He said: “I did ask for a mask but obviously the boys said ‘you’re going to be holding this door’.”
Decades in prison for trio
Sentencing, Lord Beckett told them: “For such serious, sophisticated and violent crimes severe sentences are called for in order to protect the public from you, to punish you and to seek to deter you and others from such crimes.”
He jailed King for nine years and two months, Wheeldon for 11 years and Willis for 12 years.
Wheeldon will be under supervision for a further four years and Willis for five years.
All three were given driving bans as vehicles were involved in the commission of the crimes.
King was disqualified for seven years and four months, Wheeldon for 11 years and Willis for nine years and two months.
Defence counsel Kevin McCallum QC, for Wheeldon, said he regarded what happened as a watershed and intended to make a fresh start in life.
Ian Duguid QC, for Willis, who was assessed as posing a very high risk of reoffending, said he was not the instigator of the offences.
Police praise public
Detective Inspector Gavin McKinlay, the senior investigating officer for the robbery in Dundee, said: “These men went to the shop in Dundee armed with weapons, threatened a customer and staff and made off with jewellery worth a five figure sum.
“They had only one thing on their mind, to get the jewellery and nothing was going to get in their way.
“Despite the high levels of intimidation displayed and the clearly terrifying experience for those within the shop they were thwarted by the bravery of a customer who challenged them and this distraction allowed staff to activate the alarm.
“This meant they made off with a much smaller haul than they might otherwise have taken.
“An extensive and complex police investigation tracked these men down to locations across Scotland and the north of England but I would like to pay testimony to the bravery of the customer, who was injured and has fortunately recovered, and the shop staff who were left badly shaken by what happened.
“These men are now facing the consequences of their actions.
“There is no place for this kind of violence in our society and we will always do all we can to bring people responsible for such crimes to justice.”
Jennifer Harrower, Procurator Fiscal for Specialist Casework, said: “These men travelled to Scotland, armed themselves and carried out violent robberies in broad daylight.
“These were both terrifying ordeals for the staff and customers involved, particularly the two men who were attacked and injured during the robberies.
“It is thanks to thorough investigative work and co-operation with police forces in other parts of the UK that these three men have been brought to justice.”
