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Mother of three locked up after taking neighbour's car on armed robbery

A mother of three who robbed her next-door neighbour of his car and used it in an armed robbery 90 minutes later has been jailed.

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The Co-op in Kingswinford, where the raid happened. Photo: Google

Emma Gwilliams was hooked on a £100-a-day crack and heroin addiction and desperate for cash to fund the habit, a judge heard.

The 40-year-old conned her Kingswinford neighbour, Syrian-born Samer Kseirawi, into giving her and an unidentified man a lift to a nearby shop on August 23.

When the Ford Fiesta stopped at the location she said she was banned from the store and asked him to come with her, explained Mr Dean Easthope, prosecuting, at Wolverhampton Crown Court.

As soon as he was out of the car she knocked his glasses off, grabbed the ignition key from his grasp and jumped into the vehicle which was then driven away by the person accompanying her.

An hour and a half later the defendant and two men - one of whom was armed with a realistic looking imitation firearm - burst into the Kingswinford Co-op store while pointing the weapon at Mohinderjit Singh who was alone behind the counter, continued the prosecutor.

He was hit in the stomach by the man holding the gun while his accomplice acted as look out and Gwilliams filled a holdall with cigarettes and dragged the till behind her as she fled to the getaway car parked outside.

As the raiders left one of the men broke a bottle of vodka over the head of Mr Singh, who was showered with shattered glass but luckily escaped serious injury, said Mr Easthope.

The faces of the robbers were covered but the scarf and hat used by the defendant fell off during the incident and she was arrested soon afterwards.

The two men are still at large and the value of their haul has not been disclosed.

Gwilliams has several previous convictions after going on a downward spiral since the sudden death of her partner, said Mr Stephen Hamblett, defending, who explained: "He had a very positive influence on her and, after that loss, she turned to drugs and mixed with the wrong kind of people."

Mr Hamblett concluded: "This was a desperate offence and not well planned. Taking a car from a neighbour is not the cleverest thing to do and neither is robbing you local store. She is very ashamed."

Gwilliams from Field Siddings Way, Kingswinford, admitted two robberies and possession of an imitation firearm.

She was sent to prison for four years and four months by Recorder David Mason QC who told her: "There was a desperate need for money to fund your drug habit but these were very serious offences."

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