Armed robber jailed for week-long crime spree

Sirfraz Iqbal threatened at least three people with what is believed to be an imitation firearm

A man has been jailed for a spree of armed robberies in Birmingham.

Sirfraz Iqbal held his victims at gunpoint before robbing them of cash and cars, said West Midlands Police.

The 45-year-old pleaded guilty to four robberies, two attempted robberies, and possession of a knife and imitation firearm.

He was jailed for eight years and one month at Birmingham Crown Court.

Iqbal was arrested after a woman in her 70s was robbed of cash, keys and her mobile phone in Ward End Park on 20 August 2023.

Police traced him trying to sell the phone at a nearby shop, then discovered the knife.

Officers were then able to link him to a series of serious offences earlier that week, as well as an armed carjacking in Lower Essex street on the same day as his arrest.

He threatened a man with a gun before stealing his car in Gowan Road, Alum Rock, on 13 August.

Then on 17 August, police said he entered a store in Arden Road, Alum Rock, and pointed a gun towards a shopkeeper before taking a charity cash box.

Iqbal fled and made two separate, but failed, attempts to steal cars after approaching the female drivers with what appeared to be a gun.

Police said it was now believed it to be an imitation firearm, but that would not have been obvious to his victims, who "faced the terror of being threatened with a gun".

Speaking after sentencing on Monday, Det Con Ed Winter said: "This was a terrifying experience for the victims who would have feared what was going to happen to them.

"Iqbal is now rightly behind bars for a significant period of time."