Tall Gateshead robber who blamed shorter brother is jailed

Geoffrey Urwin was jailed for five years and three months

A tall robber who tried to blame a raid on his brother has been jailed after jurors heard his sibling was too short.

CCTV from a Gateshead bookmakers showed Geoffrey Urwin, who is 6ft 6in (2m), wielding a hammer during the robbery.

Urwin said his brother was the robber but he is three inches shorter than the man caught on film, police said.

Urwin, 37, of Balmlaw, was jailed for five years and three months at Newcastle Crown Court after being found guilty of robbery and common assault.

Northumbria Police said Urwin was wearing a balaclava and carrying a hammer covered by a sock when he raided Coral, on Durham Road, in Low Fell in August 2018.

Geoffrey Urwin targeted a bookmakers in Low Fell

He took £800 from the till and threatened a pregnant worker with a hammer, ordering her to open the store's safe.

But he fled after a "brave" customer confronted him, police said.

Officers found the sock at the scene and forensic testing led them to Urwin.

The sock Urwin concealed his hammer in was dropped and left at the scene

Upon his arrest, he told officers he had been at work at the time and his brother must have been the armed robber.

He denied robbery and common assault but, after being shown "height analysis" of the CCTV footage which revealed the suspect was in fact 6ft 6in, jurors found him guilty.

Det Sgt Steve Patterson said: "He has put his terrified victims through the ordeal of a trial but his case shows the lengths we will go to unpick the lies of criminals and put them behind bars."

The court heard Urwin had 80 previous convictions, including 13 robberies, violence and conspiracy to supply heroin.