Two men have been sentenced to a total of almost ten years for robbery and attempted robbery offences committed in Worcestershire earlier this year.

Christopher Keylock, 56, of Evesham Road, Cleeve Prior was sentenced to 31 months for each of his robbery and attempt robbery convictions to run concurrently at Worcester Crown Court on 6 November.

Keylock was further convicted of driving a motor vehicle dangerously for which he was given a 12-month sentence to run consecutively, bringing his total sentence to 43 months, and disqualified from driving for 52 months.

Christopher Lamb, 27, of Vittoria Walk, Cheltenham, was previously sentenced to six years for one count of robbery and one of attempt robbery to run concurrently at Worcester Crown Court on 15 August.

Lamb was also convicted of possession of a knife/blade in a public place for which he was sentenced to four months to run concurrently, and criminal damage which had no separate penalty. A charge of affray was ordered to lie on file.

Their convictions relate to two armed robberies and attempted robberies on 30 March this year at the Post Office in Offenham and the Co-op store in Honeybourne.

Lamb and Keylock were arrested following a lengthy pursuit by officers from our Operational Policing Unit (OPU) who tracked them from near Evesham to Ledbury during which an axe was thrown from the passenger seat of the car they were following, but they successfully stopped them with a stinger.

Detective Inspector Dave Knight, of South Worcestershire CID, said: “We are pleased to get convictions for this pair of armed robbers who are now behind bars.

“They were caught following great work by our OPU officers who pursued them from near to Evesham right across the county towards Eastnor Castle in Ledbury.

“During the pursuit a masked offender (Lamb) launched an axe at the pursuing police vehicles from the passenger seat, but this did not deter them, and they successfully stopped and arrested them.”