A MAN who raided a Solihull snooker club, forcing a member of staff to open the safe at gunpoint, has been jailed for nine years.

William Butler had pleaded guilty at Warwick Crown Court to stealing around £9,000 from the safe at Riley’s snooker club on January 24.

Butler, 32, of Brays Road, Sheldon, also admitted possessing an imitation firearm.

Butler was jailed for six-and-a-half years for the robbery, with a consecutive 30-month sentence for the firearm offence.

His barrister Richard Bond conceded: “He realises he is facing a lengthy custodial sentence.”

The court heard that at shortly after midnight Butler and an accomplice went in to the snooker club with scarves hiding their face and brandishing a realistic-looking gun.

The staff were ordered to lie on the floor and Mr Riley was forced to open to safe from which the robbers took around £9,000.

The court heard that in an impact statement a female member of staff said it had been such a terrifying ordeal that she still felt she was unable to get on with her life.