Three jailed after armed strike

Date published: 10 February 2011

Three burglars have been jailed after a spectacular armed raid by officers from Greater Manchester Police.

Adam Matthew Williamson (born 5/12/89) of Abingdon Close, Whitefield, Ryan John Hamilton (born 17/12/91) of Bradshaw Lane, Stretford and a 17-year-old boy, all took part in an aggravated burglary at a house in Timperley before being apprehended by armed GMP officers a short time later.

Today, Wednesday 9 February 2011, the trio were sentenced at Manchester Minshull Street Crown Court after pleading guilty to aggravated burglary.

Williamson and the boy were each jailed for six years, while Hamilton is to spend five years behind bars.

At about 12.10pm on Thursday 29 July 2010, the victim, a 66-year-old man, was watching TV in his house on Broomfield Gardens.

Two men burst into the house and made threats to the victim. One of the offenders put a handgun to the victim's head while his accomplice stole a watch and a laptop.

The pair then left and were seen with a third offender, believed to be a lookout.

Plain clothes officers nearby were notified and searched the area for any suspicious behaviour.

They noticed the boy, who matched a description given, looking out of the window of a house on Cartmel Drive.

As the officers went up to the house the boy moved away and then refused to come out.

Because the officers knew that a gun was used in the aggravated burglary, they surrounded the house and waited for armed officers to attend.

The officers entered the house and the trio were all inside and arrested.

The gun and the victim's property were also recovered.

Sergeant Phil Seeley said: "The victim was simply at home, where he should have felt safest, when that sense of security was shattered by these individuals.

"Greater Manchester Police is committed to taking violent burglars of the streets and this commitment was shown by the quick thinking of the two officers who were told of the incident.

"I know that the effort to arrest the trio was startling for the residents of Cartmel Drive, but I hope today's outcome shows that all we wanted to do was make our streets safer."