TWO men are facing lengthy prison sentences after admitting robbing a female security guard in a pub car park cash snatch.

Timay Denton,24, of Pauline Street, Ipswich and Dean Constantinou, 25, of south-east London, admitted stealing £2,337 during the robbery at The Thrasher in Nacton Road, when they appeared before Ipswich Crown Court.

Denton also pleaded guilty to possessing a prohibited firearm, possessing expanding ammunition, possessing ammunition without a firearms certificate and possessing cannabis resin with intent to supply.

Constantinou also admitted another indictment of dangerous driving and driving while disqualified on January 24, in West End Road, Ranelagh Road and London Road, Ipswich.

At an earlier hearing before Ipswich magistrates prosecutor Emma Howson said the robbery occurred between 10.45am and 10.53am on February 6.

The G4S security guard had collected the pub takings and was walking back to her van with the cash box.

A man wearing a motorcycle helmet approached her and demanded the box.

The robber pushed the guard, took the box and managed to get the money before discarding the box as he ran off towards a waiting motorbike ridden by an accomplice.

Magistrates heard the pair rode off at speed going around the roundabout near Ravenswood and along Nacton Road in the direction of the town centre.

When CCTV was checked by police it had captured the motorcycle filling up before the robbery at the Texaco petrol station less than 200 metres from The Thrasher.

After the snatch CCTV caught the motorbike turning into Maryon Road from Nacton Road.

Police found the motorbike at an address in Dater Close with its exhaust still warm.

Two men, a woman and a three-year-old child were inside along with a large hostile dog.

After a stand-off of around 15 minutes, officers entered the property and arrested Denton and Constantinou.

A firearm and ammunition were found inside, along with four 9oz bars of cannabis resin in a kitchen unit.

Denton said the gun, ammunition and cannabis were his and for his personal use.

After Denton and Constantinou’s crown court guilty pleas Judge Rupert Overbury adjourned their cases for sentencing until May 15, warning them custody was inevitable.

The pair were remanded in custody.

Last month Denton was jailed for nine months for a separate offence of possessing cannabis with intent to supply on April 19 last year.

He was caught when police searched the car he was in at a service area on the A14 at Huntingdon and found 260grammes of the drug worth a street value of around £1,500.