LONDON – A court in Britain has sentenced a 23-year-old Indo-British man to seven-and-half years in jail for taking part in an armed burglary.
Gurinder Ranshi, a second year student of opticianry in the University of Bradford, joined an armed masked gang who burst into a house and robbed a couple in January 2012 in Hyde, Greater Manchester, in northwest England.
The gang reportedly also assaulted the occupants of the house. The jury at Manchester’s Minshull Street Crown Court found Ranshi guilty of aggravated burglary, the Daily Mail reported Thursday.
Two other men involved in the raid were also jailed. Joseph Duffy, 30, of Offerton, who attacked the householder while the others searched for cash, was jailed for seven years.
Another co-accused, Jonathan O’Connor, 25, of Middleton was jailed for nine years. Ranshi tried to flee by leaping from an upstairs window, but he fractured his spine as he landed and was arrested.
The Indian-origin man’s father is an optician and he reportedly has done everything to make his son’s life better. His family had never been in trouble with police before.
Ranshi was a talented schoolboy golfer and won a hat-trick of top junior trophies at Withington Golf Club.
He denied the charges and said he was going with O’Connor and Duffy to their friend’s house on the night and did not know of the raid until he arrived.
