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20/05/2008
Fingerprint Foils Violent Robber
A simple fingerprint linked a violent criminal to his handiwork - and led to a long jail sentence in court today.
Mohammed Raf Shah (24) was tracked after the robbery at Warnock's clothes shop, Lisburn Road, in May, 2005, with the judge noting the crime was a "slick" robbery, and suggesting that small businesses needed to be protected from such offences.
Jailing Shah for six years, he also placed him on two years' post-custodial supervision.
The court had been told that four staff members were tied up and threatened at gun point by a gang who stole about £68,500 in cash and goods.
Two employees, one of whom had recently undergone heart surgery, had to be treated in hospital after the robbery.
Shah, of no fixed abode, admitted robbery, false imprisonment and possessing a firearm.
The other three gang members have never been caught.
A prosecution lawyer told the court that a man approached one of the shop assistants as he was closing down the shop for the day.
He placed something against his back and warned: "I will shoot you."
The gang went into the shop and told the terrified employees that if they pushed a panic button, they would be shot.
The employees were bound hand and foot and their faces were covered with dressing gowns during the robbery.
(BMcC)
Mohammed Raf Shah (24) was tracked after the robbery at Warnock's clothes shop, Lisburn Road, in May, 2005, with the judge noting the crime was a "slick" robbery, and suggesting that small businesses needed to be protected from such offences.
Jailing Shah for six years, he also placed him on two years' post-custodial supervision.
The court had been told that four staff members were tied up and threatened at gun point by a gang who stole about £68,500 in cash and goods.
Two employees, one of whom had recently undergone heart surgery, had to be treated in hospital after the robbery.
Shah, of no fixed abode, admitted robbery, false imprisonment and possessing a firearm.
The other three gang members have never been caught.
A prosecution lawyer told the court that a man approached one of the shop assistants as he was closing down the shop for the day.
He placed something against his back and warned: "I will shoot you."
The gang went into the shop and told the terrified employees that if they pushed a panic button, they would be shot.
The employees were bound hand and foot and their faces were covered with dressing gowns during the robbery.
(BMcC)
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