A THUG from Oldbury whose armed gang pistol whipped a Black Country shopkeeper before escaping with around £2,700 has been warned he is facing a significant spell behind bars.

Zemnako Azad Salih, owner of the off-licence in Whitmore Reans, was also threatened with a machete during the terrifying raid.

He was attacked by Ashley Haughton who was wielding the machete while Isaac Fraser was armed with an imitation firearm, Wolverhampton Crown Court was told.

Zubair Khan of Seymour Road, Oldbury acted as their lookout and all three men fled from the scene with the money but they were chased and caught by witnesses and arrested a short time later.

It was a planned, targeted joint attack on the shop by three men who knew the routine of Mr Salih and they knew there would be money on the premises, said Miss Cathlyn Orchard prosecuting.

She told the court it was 33-year-old Fraser who pistol whipped the shop owner with Haughton waving the machete menacingly leaving Mr Salih in a “state of panic.”

Khan, 27, Haughton, also 27, of Great Hampton Street and Fraser of Newbridge Street, both Whitmore Reans had denied robbery, possessing an imitation firearm and possessing an offensive weapon.

But they were all found guilty after the jury retired to consider the evidence at their end of their trial and they were remanded in custody for the preparation of a pre-sentence report.

Judge John Warner warmed them all that it was extremely serious offending and he stressed substantial prison sentences were inevitable.

The jury had been told Haughton’s DNA was found on the machete used in the crime while a scarf belonging to one of the gang members was also recovered at the scene.