A thief who pretended to have a gun by using his walking stick in a series of armed robberies was sentenced to ten years in prison.
For the ambitious heists in south London, Brett Mullan, 50, folded up his collapsible walking assistance and covered it in a plastic bag.
During a month-long rampage in April, Mullan, a resident of Gravesend, targeted bookmakers and stole thousands of pounds.
However, his practise of brazenly boarding a train to the location of his intended robbery got him into trouble.
On April 13, a train revenue ticket inspector caught him fare-dodging as he was en route to his third offence, and he revealed his real name.
Police, who had pieced together that the perpetrator was utilising trains, were able to identify him thanks to the deception, and they gathered CCTV footage of him committing crimes.
The walking stick he had used to commit the five crimes—by disguising it as a shotgun—was discovered inside his house.
He received a ten-year prison term yesterday at Snaresbrook Crown Court.
At Barkingside Magistrates’ Court on April 26, he entered a plea of guilty to five counts of robbery and five offences of possessing a toy gun.
Over the course of the robberies, he was successful in taking a total of £2,780 during his crime spree.
“Mullan intimidated members of the public and the employees at the bookmakers who were going about their usual lives when he demanded money and made significant violence threats,” said Detective Constable Carl Stallabras of the Met’s Flying Squad. They were concerned for their safety.
But all it took for us to find him was a small oversight on his way to the second offence, and the abundance of information we gathered from there forced him to enter a guilty plea.
Our first objective is to combat violent crime in all of its manifestations, and the Met is committed to lowering the rate of robberies.
By getting in touch with us as soon as you can if you are the target of robbers, you can offer us the best chance of apprehending them. Dial 999.’