Smash and grab £300k jewellery shop heist in Birmingham: Five men found guilty

Five men have been found guilty of ram-raiding a shop in Birmingham and stealing jewellery worth nearly £300,000.

The robbers were caught on camera using a stolen Toyota Hilux to smash their way into Danyaal Jewellers in Sparkbrook on 3 March last year.

Up to 5kg (11lbs) of 22-carat gold jewellery was stolen.

The men - all from Birmingham - were convicted of conspiracy to rob at Birmingham Crown Court on Wednesday.

John Gourlay, 49, from Pershore Road, Selly Oak; Trevor Leek, 44, of Southgate Road, Kingstanding; Justin Boylan, 51, of Schoolacre Road, Shard End; Arfan Latif, 38, from Kinver Croft, Balsall Heath, and Hassan Zulfiqar, 26, also from Kinver Croft, were also found guilty of possessing an offensive weapon following a four-week trial.

Armed with a sledgehammer, three men are captured on CCTV entering the store in Ladypool Road before smashing their way into two display cabinets.

The footage then shows them stuffing jewellery into sacks while a fourth man remained in the Hilux and a fifth man acted as "crowd control" by waving an axe at witnesses, West Midlands Police said.

The force said jewellery worth £292,165 in total was stolen during the raid.

The men used three vehicles, including a black Land Rover Discovery, a white Toyota Hilux and a black Toyota Corolla.

The Land Rover and Toyota Corolla were used to block the road either side of the jewellers while the Hilux reversed into the store.


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