A man who carried out a string of robberies at bookmakers pretending his walking stick was a shotgun was caught after he gave his name to a railway ticket inspector.

Brett Mullan, 51, of Wellington Street, Gravesend, pleaded guilty to five counts of robbery and five counts of possession of an imitation firearm at Snaresbrook Crown Court on Monday.

Flying Squad detectives were investigating a linked series of armed robberies at bookies in Lee, Norwood, Sutton and Crayford, south London, between Monday 4 April and Sunday 24 April.

Officers found that the suspect was travelling to and from the offences by rail and so CCTV was obtained.

Mullan was stopped on a train by a railway revenue ticket inspector on his way to the second robbery in Burnt Ash Road on 13 April, and gave his real name.

From there, police gathered footage of each offence and of Mullan leaving from and returning to his home address.

He was arrested on 25 April as he left his home.

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Detectives found a collapsible walking stick at his home and after checking CCTV, it was discovered this was what he used to resemble a shotgun by concealing it in a carrier bag.

A total of £2,780 was stolen over the course of the robberies.

Detective Constable Carl Stallabras, from the Flying Squad, 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.”

Mullan will be sentenced on 1 August.

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