Robbers jailed after axe attack on shopkeeper

Connor McVay (left) and Aaron Birbeck (right) have been jailed and a teenager has been given a youth rehabilitation order

Two men have been jailed and a 16-year-old boy has been given a youth rehabilitation order for their involvement in a robbery in which a man was hit with an axe.

The group robbed two shops in Buckinghamshire in February, using weapons which left a shopkeeper in Chesham Bois, near Amersham, with life-changing injuries.

At Aylesbury Crown Court, Connor McVay, 32, of Kidderminster Road, Croydon, was sentenced to eight years in prison and Aaron Birbeck, 27, of no fixed abode, was given seven and a half years.

The boy, who cannot be named for legal reason, was given the youth rehabilitation order at the same hearing.

On 21 February, Birbeck went into Ivy Stores in Amersham with the boy while McVay waited in a car outside.

Birbeck used a machete to threaten a woman who worked in the shop and took money from the till while the boy took cigarettes, alcohol and vapes.

A day later, the group attacked a Londis in Chesham Bois. On that occasion, Birbeck used an axe to smash the till and then hit the shopkeeper with the blunt side of the weapon.

The injured man, in his 30s, suffered injuries including a fractured skull.

More than £5,000 was raised for the victim by the local community.

A shopkeeper in Chesham Bois was left with a fractured skull

All three were arrested in Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire, after a chase that started in Iver, Buckinghamshire.

Birbeck admitted two counts of robbery, one count of possession of a bladed article, one count of possession of an offensive weapon and one count of grievous bodily harm.

McVay was found guilty of two counts of robbery, one count of dangerous driving and one count of theft of a motor vehicle.

The 16-year-old boy pleaded guilty to two counts of robbery.