Suffolk: Mohamad Al Sarnawi jailed for 16 months for robbery

Mohamad Al Sarnawi walked into Coral bookmakers in Sudbury on June 8 this year carrying a shopping bag and what appeared to be a pistol, Ipswich Crown Court heard.

As he approached the counter where two cashiers were working he started waving the pistol around and said: “Give me the money”, said Benedict Peers, prosecuting.

At that stage the barrel of the gun fell off and when Al Sarnawi picked it up the cashiers realised it wasn’t real and asked him if he was drunk.

Al Sarnawi had then threatened to get a real gun and had eventually left the shop after other customers intervened.

Mohamed Al Sarnawi was jailed for 16 months at Ipswich Crown Court. (Image: Suffolk Constabulary)

He then walked along King Street and asked a woman for a cigarette.

When she said no he had pulled out the imitation gun and said: “Maybe this will change your mind” and pointed it at her.

He had then broken the gun in two and told her he was joking.

However, the woman told police she had thought it was real and had been frightened.

Mr Peers said that after Al Sarnawi was arrested it was discovered the pistol was an Avon cosmetics aftershave container in the shape of a Colt style pistol.

He said a firearms expert who examined it described it as having the appearance of a firearm and was the same colour and had the same dimensions as a real pistol.

Al Sarnawi of Salmon Lane, London, admitted two offences of possessing an imitation firearm with intent to cause fear of violence and a separate offence of fraud.

At an earlier hearing he denied attempted robbery at the bookmakers and having an imitation firearm with intent to commit a robbery and Mr Peers said he wouldn’t be seeking a trial on these charges.

The court heard that Al Sarnawi had had a drink problem and was now a different person to the one who had committed the offences in June.