On 24 November, Robinson, Hickey and an unidentified third man carried out an armed robbery at a Tesco supermarket on the Castle Vale estate in Birmingham.
Hickey and Robinson raided the safe while the third man held several terrified shoppers at bay with a gun.
[4] Six days later, Robinson and the Hickey cousins robbed an elderly couple at Chapel Farm, Romsley, near Halesowen.
Vincent stayed in the car while Robinson and Michael charged into the house wearing balaclavas, brandishing a shotgun and shouting for money.
During questioning which also covered the murder, Molloy told police that he had been in an upstairs bedroom at Yew Tree Farm while robbing the house when he heard a gunshot downstairs.
The Court of Appeal agreed with a Home Office-appointed assessor that the Hickey cousins should lose a quarter of loss-of-earnings compensation for their free food and accommodation inside prison.
[13] Spencer is featured in a book, Scapegoat for Murder: The Truth About the Killing of Carl Bridgewater (D&B Publishing), written by true crime author, Simon W. Golding.
[14][15][16][17] In the course of the "interview of the year", Spencer's daughter revealed that she felt that her father was at Yew Tree Farm on the day of Bridgwater's killing "and possibly saw something".
An ambulance station secretary (who was also a friend) who had provided the "cast iron" alibi that he had been "at work all day", admitted that she could not be sure that Spencer had not left at some point.
She added that, Spencer having chosen to revive the issue to protest his innocence, it seemed likely that the police would reopen the case.