By Rebecca Camber
Two cousins who carried out a string of violent robberies after posting fake car adverts on the web were jailed on Friday.
Richard McCrorie, 25, and Alexander Gould, 22, posted bogus car adverts on the Gumtree website to lure interested buyers to quiet residential locations in affluent areas of Surrey.
But when the customers arrived cash-in-hand expecting to drive away with a bargain, they were beaten with iron bars and robbed at gunpoint.
Police believe the pair robbed a number of victims, taking thousands of pounds in the scam.
But they were caught after trying to attack a van they thought contained a couple looking to buy a BMW car, only to find it was full of armed police officers who used Taser guns to subdue the pair carrying a gun and a knife.
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The two cousins were today sentenced to a total of 13 years in jail.
McCrorie, from Fleetside, West Molesey, Surrey, got seven years and Gould from Manchester got a six year sentence at Guildford Crown Court for robbery and possession of an imitation firearm.
The first robbery took place outside a residential property in Hook Heath, Woking, on April 22 this year after a man aged in his 40s from North London responded to a Gumtree advert on a BMW for sale for ?5,575.
On arrival the buyer was instructed by phone to park on the driveway and wait for a man called James who was running late.
But as he waited, two men, one carrying a black pistol, ran from behind a hedge and dragged him from the driver's seat.
He was hit over the head by his attackers wearing balaclavas, who demanded he hand over the money or they would kill him.
He gave them ?1,100 in cash and the two men fled.
The victim was left with blood pouring from his head and later needed stitches to cuts to his face and head.
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