A fourth man involved in a terrifying Coventry robbery when a Stanley knife was held to a baby’s throat in a bid to force his mother to reveal a safe combination has been jailed for 10 years.
Three other men were jailed earlier, as we reported.
Judge Potter told Malik Ragnatt (22) of Bensham Lane, Croydon: “One of you held a stanley knife to the throat of the one year old child, and in front of that child’s mother threatened to cut his neck if the code was not handed over, and when they said they could not threatened to kill the child.
“It is impossible for me to be satisfied who held the knife, but you were all aware a knife was to be taken into the property, so you are all responsible.”
When the gang finally accepted the combination was not known, they ripped the safe from the wall and made their get-away.
The four men pleaded guilty to robbing the baby’s 71-year-old grandmother of the safe and its contents after bursting into her Coventry home.
At Warwick Crown Court last week, Gregory Crockett (24) of Friary Road, Handsworth, Birmingham, who also admitted charges of handling stolen cars, was jailed for a total of 12 years.
Daniel McKain (29) Southwick Tower, London, whose attempt to change his plea was rejected at an earlier hearing, was jailed for 11 years; and Joshua Juggan (25) of Alvey Street, Southwark, London, for 10 years.
Sentence on Ragnatt was adjourned because he had not been brought from the prison where he has been held on remand.
Prosecutor Raj Punia said that on June 18 last year they targeted a house in Chiswick Close, Coventry, where they robbed a 71-year-old woman and her daughter-in-law of cash and jewellery.
“They were threatened with at least one knife, and their hands were bound with black tape by the defendants who wore face-covering and high-viz jackets.”
The women’s ordeal, and that of two young children, began when the 71-year-old was on her way into the four-bedroom house after hanging out washing in the back garden at 10.30am.
The four men came into the garden and rushed into the house, grabbing her by the shoulders and forcing her down onto a chair where she was bound with black tape.
Her 35-year-old daughter-in-law, who was inside with her nine-month-old son on her lap, was also bound, and her three-year-old daughter was ordered to stand in the corner of the room.
While two of the men were detaining the terrified women, the other two searched the house from top to bottom for the safe, which they believed held a very large sum of cash.
“They found the safe under the stairs and demanded the combination while holding a Stanley knife to the baby’s neck.”
It was not known which of the four was using the knife, but he threatened the baby’s terrified mother: “If you don’t tell me, I’ll cut his neck, I’ll kill your baby.”
Neither woman knew the combination, and after repeatedly being told that, the gang managed to rip the safe from the wall and ran from the house to Juggan’s car parked nearby.
A neighbour who saw them raised the alarm, and when the police arrived they released the older woman, whose daughter-in-law had just managed to free herself.
Having escaped with the safe, which contained £4,000 in cash and wedding sets of Indian jewellery belonging to the two women, some of which had been in the family for many years, they took it to a field where they forced it open with a crowbar.
The four then parted, but as Juggan and Ragnatt headed back to London, they were stopped by a police armed response unit and arrested, and in the silver Ford Focus officers found £1,400 of the cash in bundles of £20 notes, but none of the jewellery.
As a result of messages on their phone, the other robbers were identified as Crockett and McKain, and they were also later arrested, said Miss Punia.
Ragnatt had claimed they had gone to Birmingham to visit a young woman, staying there all the time before heading home – and he denied going to Coventry or taking part in the robbery.
