Thugs pulled over at service station busted with loaded firearm and sinister clown mask

Thugs busted with a loaded firearm and a sinister clown mask hidden in a rental car have been locked up for more than 14 years. Akelle Charles and Ricardo Thomas were driving to the Black Country from London when they were arrested 'at gunpoint' at a service station.

A pistol, 15 rounds of ammunition and the eerie clown mask were discovered in the boot of the car. An investigation found the gun had previously been used in a shooting in London, West Midlands Police said.

Charles then lived just over two miles from the scene of the shooting but no evidence linked him to the crime. Det Insp Amar Patel, from the West Midlands Regional Organised Crime Unit, said: "These men were heading back towards London at the time of their arrest with a loaded firearm, gloves and a mask in a car hired in someone else’s name.

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"We’ll never know what their plans were, but we have taken a loaded gun and two dangerous men off the streets." The car was driven from London to Wolverhampton late on October 26.

Charles and Thomas made a stop in Cannock Road the next day before heading on to the M40 and stopping at southbound Warwick Services. Police arrested the defendants at the service station just before 9pm.

The pistol was uncovered in a black Nike manbag. Forensic examinations linked it to bullet cases left at the scene of the London shooting a month earlier, when a number of shots were fired at a house.

Chats recovered from the phones of both men indicated they had 'heavy involvement and knowledge of firearms', the force said. The convicts, both 33, admitted possession of a firearm and ammunition and were sentenced at Birmingham Crown Court yesterday (Tuesday, May 7).

Charles, of Devonport Road, London, was locked up for six years and nine months. Thomas, of St Albans Road, Smethwick, was jailed for eight years.