A robber who used a walking stick as a fake shotgun to raid a string of south London bookmakers has been brought to justice after he gave his name to a ticket inspector.
Brett Mullan, 51, from Gravesend, pleaded guilty at Snaresbrook Crown Court on Monday to five counts of robbery and five counts of possession of an imitation firearm.
He will appear for sentencing at the same court on Monday, August 1.
Detectives from the Met’s Flying Squad investigated a linked series of armed robberies at bookmakers in Lee, Norwood, Sutton and Crayford in less than three weeks between Monday, April 4 and Sunday, April 24.
They found a suspect was travelling to and from the offences by train and obtained CCTV of him.
Mullan was stopped on a train by a ticket inspector as he made his way to the second offence in Burnt Ash Road in Lee on April 13, and provided his real name.
Officers found footage of each robbery, and of Mullan leaving from and returning to his home address. He was arrested on April 25 after leaving home, and charged.
When police searched his home, they found a collapsible walking stick, which they discovered Mullan used to resemble a shotgun by concealing it within a carrier bag.
A total of £2,780 was stolen over the course of the robberies.
Detective Constable Carl Stallabras said: “Mullan terrified members of the public and staff at the bookmakers who were going about their normal lives when he demanded cash and made threats of serious violence. Those people feared for their lives.
“But a simple mistake on his way to the second offence was all we needed to track him down, and from there the wealth of evidence we obtained left him no choice but to plead guilty.”
The robberies took place in High Street, Sutton, on April 4 , Burnt Ash Road, Lee, on April 13, Burnt Ash Road again on April 18, High Street, Norwood Junction on April 23 and Crayford Road, Crayford on April 24.
