Teenage gun and knife thugs go on mugging spree at high school
Armed police were called to a school after two teenagers went on a robbery spree threatening pupils with a gas-powered airgun and lock-knife.
The 14-year-old boys mugged four students at St Mary's Church of England High School in Hendon taking iPods and iPhones in a lunchtime raid on 8 February.
Wood Green crown court heard the pair, who were not pupils at the school, were looking for a boy they believed had been involved in a assault on a girl they knew. However the youths were unable to find their intended target and started threatening other pupils at random.
CCTV footage showed them running in fear. Staff called the police and a firearms unit was sent. The teenagers were arrested eight minutes later in a nearby street with the stolen property worth about £800.
Both pleaded guilty to four counts of robbery, one also pleaded guilty to possessing a knife while the other admitted firearm offences. One youth, from Tottenham, was sentenced to a two-year detention and training order, which will be served partly in custody and the community. The other boy, from Walthamstow, was sentenced to a three-year youth rehabilitation order. He had no previous convictions.
St Mary's headteacher Kate Roskell said today: "This was a rare incident that shocked my students and staff so we're pleased the sentencing has come to fruition and that they got their just rewards.
"Members of staff quickly made contact with police so they could apprehend them and then we carried on lessons for the rest of the afternoon." Detective constable Ian Holmes, of Barnet CID, said: "These youths travelled across London armed with a knife and functioning gun, albeit an air weapon, that looked just like a real handgun.
"The fear they engendered and the possible consequences for their victims or themselves do not bear thinking about. It was the prompt action of the school and police that led to their speedy arrest and the return of the victims' property. Thankfully such incidents are rare."
