Watch: law graduate caught on CCTV carrying out string of armed raids in Birmingham

Shocking CCTV footage shows a law graduate threatening shop staff with a knife as he carried out a string of terrifying armed robberies during a rampage across a city.

Former criminology student Kudakwashe Chowa, 30, used his knowledge of ‘police and forensic tactics’ to plan and execute 18 robberies across the West Midlands.

He targeted a bank, supermarkets, convenience stores and petrol stations during his crime spree between February and October last year. Chowa was captured on security cameras as he burst into the buildings before holding shop workers at knifepoint and on one occasion used a gun.

A court heard he used his his ‘educated background’ as a university law graduate to avoid being captured by switching mobile phones and destroying evidence. But he was finally caught in November after he carried out a robbery at a Lloyds bank using a BB gun and was identified by CCTV and DNA evidence.

Chowa was also filmed on CCTV paying in old £50 notes and damaged notes stolen from the bank into his own account. Officers swooped at his home to arrest him and also seized the BB gun packaging and a money bag stolen in the robbery. Chowa, of Erdington, Birmingham, pleaded guilty to six armed robberies and asked for 12 other robbery offences to be taken into consideration. Yesterday (8 August) he was jailed for 15 years at Birmingham Crown Court and was branded a ‘menace to society’ after sentencing.

The court was told how he targeted retail premises’ across Birmingham and the Black Country and used a knife during 17 of the raids.

He escaped with more than £3,500 in cash from a bank in Acocks Green, Birmingham, and robbed the same service station twice in a matter of days. Tejinder Sandhu, of the CPS, said: “Kudakwashe Chowa was a menace to society and had no regard for the safety of staff who were just going about their daily business.

“He used his educated background as a law graduate to plan and execute these robberies and attempted to get away with it by switching multiple mobile phones and destroying evidence.

“At yesterday’s sentencing hearing, the court heard of the devastating effects his crimes had on numerous victims who were left scarred by his actions. He has now rightly received a lengthy sentence which reflects the severity of his offending and should serve as an example to other criminals.”