Following the January heist of a pawnbroker and jeweller in Leeds which we covered at the time, the masked thief in the picture is now doing time rather than stealing it – he is serving an eight year jail sentence.

24 year old Dylan Wood was sentenced after he forced his way into Browns in the Arndale Centre in Leeds with a fake weapon on January 26th.

He was not alone as his co-conspirator, wielding a mallet, pressured two members of staff to open up several display cabinets filled with treasures including precious jewellery and a host of Rolex timepieces.

After helping themselves to a wholesale value of £67,000, the raiders fled in a getaway car waiting outside.

It’s believed Wood had a strategy prior to the robbery. According to the Yorkshire Evening Post, it is claimed he visited the store just a few hours earlier. This was in order to pretend he was purchasing a gift for his girlfriend. Yet employees working at Browns noticed he was wearing the same shoes when Wood came back to the store later that day.

By viewing close circuit television footage, the authorities managed to identify the masked avenger. In fact Wood already had a number of previous theft related crimes as well as attempting to conspire to commit a break-in.

Meanwhile, police uncovered the shotgun which was considered to be obsolete and could not even fire following a rigorous examination by a leading weapons specialist.

The 24 year old will now serve almost a decade behind bars after sentencing took place at Leeds Crown Court. In fact Wood has led a turbulent life, where he turned to crime to fulfill an overwhelming drugs habit.

Patrick Gallagher for the prosecution team explained that members from the police paid a visit to the house of Wood’s girlfriend. They took her mobile device and later found out that Wood had texted his girlfriend saying he had been involved in some ‘grafting’.

Armed with enough evidence, Wood was detained within just a few days of the robbery and even assisted in locating the weapon that was used at the scene of the crime.

Wood, originally from St Alban Court in Gipton, a district of East Leeds nicknamed corned beef island,  pleaded guilty on the stand to robbery and being in possession of a fake weapon

Describing the events, presiding Judge Christopher Batty proclaimed the innocent people caught up in this attempted robbery were certainly unaware of the shotgun’s legitimacy and experienced genuine fear.

“This was serious professional crime. You are 24 years of age and by your own admission you have lived a life of crime.”

Judge Christopher Batty

It transpires the motive behind Wood’s attempt was due to the fact that he owed a lot of cash due to feeding his drug habit and coming to terms with his mother passing away.