A PAIR of robbers threatened a pregnant woman and her husband at gunpoint before taking their BMW car.

Nathan Taylor and Ashley Parker were both masked and they pounced as the man got out of the parked vehicle in a car park at the Castle Gate retail and leisure centre in Dudley to investigate a strange sound.

The BMW was then used as a getaway car as Taylor, Parker and Aneil Patel fled with around £60 cash in a raid on a convenience store in Walsall, Wolverhampton Crown Court was told.

But 18-year-old Parker was stopped at the scene in Walsall Road by a 15-year-old schoolboy who was hailed as a have-a-go hero by a judge.

Aaron Mas-Griffin was walking past the store as the three men were trying to leave the scene with Parker running away on foot and Taylor and Patel making their escape in the stolen BMW.

The schoolboy yelled for Parker to stop and he obeyed the instruction before being grabbed by the youth and a man who had been working in the Nisa Store.

Parker was then disarmed and frogmarched back to the shop where he was detained until the arrival of police officers who took away an imitation firearm that looked like a genuine gun.

Judge Mark Eades gave the schoolboy a £350 reward for his public spirited action and £150 to Kamaldup Kang who helped him detain Parker.

The judge said, "It seems to me that people who display bravery of this nature in such circumstances deserve public recognition. It appears the 15-year-old took the lead in this and I am very impressed by the account of his actions."

Taylor and Patel were both arrested just two days later in Taylor's Fiat Punto and the key fob to the stolen BMW was recovered from the vehicle.

Taylor, aged 19, of St Ives Road: Parker, aged 18, from Green Lane and 22-year-old Patel of Charlemont Road, all Walsall admitted robbery and possessing an imitation firearm.

Taylor had further been convicted of wounding with intent in a separate incident and he was sent to a young offenders Institution for 12 years.

Patel was jailed for three years while Parker was sent to a young offenders institution for two-and-a-half years.