Teen Used 'Old Man' Disguise In Armed Robbery

A schoolboy who used sophisticated prosthetics to disguise himself as a pensioner while carrying out a violent armed robbery has been jailed.

Brandishing two handguns and dressed up as an old man, 16-year-old Miles Alura and his two teenaged accomplices were caught following a raid on a Kent jewellers.

The trio used handcuffs and a dog lead to tie up terrified staff, before making off with £50,000 worth of jewellery. But an onlooker called the police and all three boys were arrested.

Alura was found in a nearby garden having dumped the gang's haul and removed his facial prosthetics, make-up and hairpiece.

Following their capture, detectives from the Met's Flying Squad linked the July 3 robbery to an earlier raid on June 7 at a jewellers in Mayfair, central London.

Alura had committed that robbery along with one of the two boys - who cannot be named - and while wearing false waist-length dreadlocks.

They jumped over the counter and threatened the staff, intimating they had a gun. Workers were tied up and they escaped with jewellery worth £100,000.

Fingerprints belonging to both boys was found on paperwork - including school history coursework and a drawing of the plan of the store - left at the scene.

Alura was sentenced at Kingston Crown Court to a total of five years in prison. His accomplice in the Mayfair robbery, 'Boy A', also 16, of Stoke Newington, was jailed for three years.

Fifteen-year-old 'Boy B', of Holloway, received a 12-month detention and training order. Reporting restrictions were lifted for Alura, but not for the other two boys.

Detective Constable Vicky Bailey, from the Met's Flying Squad, said: "These were violent armed robberies during which innocent members of staff were terrorised and genuinely feared for their lives.

"It is even more shocking to know that this level of violence was inflicted by three schoolboys who went to extraordinary lengths to research, plan and get away with these offences, demonstrated by Alura's sophisticated disguise."

All three defendants had earlier pleaded guilty at Kingston Crown Court to conspiracy to rob relating to the Kent robbery.

Alura and 'Boy B' had pleaded guilty to possession of an imitation firearm regarding that raid. Alura and 'Boy A' had also pleaded guilty to the Mayfair robbery.