Police: Brit schoolboy robbed jewelry stores in disguise
LONDON (AP) — British police say a 16-year-old boy who used prosthetics and dreadlocks to conduct armed robberies in disguise has been jailed for five years.
Police say Miles Alura pretended to be an elderly man with facial prosthetics, make-up and a hair piece to steal 50,000 pounds ($79,500) of jewelry from a shop in Kent in July. They say he produced two handguns and tied up employees before fleeing.
That robbery was linked to one in London a month earlier, when Alura wore fake dreadlocks to rob a jeweler of 100,000 pounds ($159,000) worth of stock.
Alura was jailed Friday at Kingston Crown Crown Court.
Two teenage accomplices who cannot be named for legal reasons were sentenced to three years in jail and a 12-month detention order.
Police say Miles Alura pretended to be an elderly man with facial prosthetics, make-up and a hair piece to steal 50,000 pounds ($79,500) of jewelry from a shop in Kent in July. They say he produced two handguns and tied up employees before fleeing.
That robbery was linked to one in London a month earlier, when Alura wore fake dreadlocks to rob a jeweler of 100,000 pounds ($159,000) worth of stock.
Alura was jailed Friday at Kingston Crown Crown Court.
Two teenage accomplices who cannot be named for legal reasons were sentenced to three years in jail and a 12-month detention order.
Handguns? I thought those were illegal in the UK.
 @Playanekes Only if you're caught.
When I was 16, I dressed up like an old man to buy a case of beer. I brushed dye into my hair, wore crummy clothes, and had used a little fake skin from Halloween to complete the disguise. The first time, the clerk fell for it. The second, no go. Needless to say, I was disappointed with my 'Mission Impossible' style of disguise.
I think my assessment of other people's intelligence went up markedly after that.
This punk evidently never took that sort of introspection into account.
If you're going to try pulling this kind of stunt, spend the money and buy a spfx style mask...you MIGHT just get away with it. Otherwise, you can expect to be known as the 'Half Asssed Hoodlum'.
I wouldn't trust a guy that looks like that with a cracker jack box let alone any jewelry
@Phuzz I don't think it was a trust exercise.
Can change everything but the eyes.
The judges 'cross the pond' sound as liberal as the ones here. 2 armed robberies, and posession of a firearm during the commission of a felony, in a country where firearms are outlawed? And he only gets 5 years?  I'm surprised they don't have a bunch of our perps trying for admission to their country!
no more penal colonies like the good ol days. prison sentences are more like summer camp now
He makes the future nervous.
He was trying to make it look like the Jewery wanted the jewelry.
 @WendyTeagarden I agree, I think!Â
His disguise reminds me of a Rembrandt painting...
@badcat or a cigar box logo