News

Robbery duo's 'lifelong' sentences overturned

TWO Birmingham men who were jailed indefinitely for robbing a security guard delivering cash to Barclays Bank in Machynlleth have had their potentially-lifelong sentences overturned.

Mark Ricardo Lawlor, 27, and Micquel Daniel France, 25, admitted being part of a gang which carried out the robbery on Pentrerhedyn Street on 19 May last year.

The pair were considered such a danger to the public that they were given open-ended sentences of indefinite imprisonment for public protection (IPP) at Stoke Crown Court in June.

The IPP sentences are almost identical to conventional life terms, meaning prisoners might never be freed as they can only be released when considered safe.

But three senior judges at the Court of Appeal said the sentences were too tough, and imposed terms which will guarantee their eventual freedom.

Mr Justice Foskett substituted terms of six-and-a-half years’ imprisonment, with four years of extra licence conditions during which they will be monitored after release.

The judge, sitting with Lord Justice McCombe and Mr Justice Eder, said the pair worked alongside another Birmingham man, Robert Court, to rob a security guard.

He was delivering cash to the bank when he was pushed over. Two of the men then jumped into a car, where the third was waiting.

Click here for the full story, or see this week's Machynlleth and Llanidloes edition of the Cambrian News