Armed robber jailed for raid on Edinburgh jewellery store

An armed robber has been jailed for 13 years today after raiding a jewellery store in Edinburgh earlier this year. 

Matthew Ferry, 24, stole £233,160 worth of high value watches from Laing the Jeweller in Edinburgh’s Frederick Street on March 2 this year, where he threatened staff members with a realistic-looking replica pistol.

Ferry then hijacked a private hire car with its passenger inside, forcing the driver to go through a red traffic light to make his escape.

He got away with a total of 27 Rolex, Cartier and Panerai timepieces but dropped three of the Rolex watches as he fled – the other 24 watches have not been recovered.

When armed police detained him at his grandmother’s home they found a Mach 10 sub machine gun, ammunition for the weapon and heroin – with a believed street value of £50,000.

Ferry – who had previous convictions for offences including drugs, weapon possession, assault and public disorder – pleaded guilty to five charges at the High Court in Edinburgh,

The judge, Lord Glennie, said: “It is clear this must have been terrifying for your victims, the people in the shop and the people in the taxi. Offences of violence of the kind perpetrated by you in carrying out the robbery and making your getaway cannot be tolerated.”

The judge, who was shown video footage of a ballistic expert testing the Mach 10, said the weapon was “clearly deadly if used in anger”.

Lord Glennie told Ferry he would have jailed him for a total of 17 and a half years, if it wasn’t for his guilty pleas.