A robber who posed as a woman during a cash point robbery has been put behind bars - after West Midlands Police linked him to the crime from his wig.

Christopher Taylor was dressed as a brunette as he threatened his victim with a machete in the early hours of 8 November last year. The disguised 25-year-old forced the man to hand over his bank card, £50 and PIN details after approaching him in Brickhouse Lane, Tipton.

Taylor - donning his long locks - then withdrew a further £200 before fleeing in a Peugeot 206 which was discovered by officers around an hour later in Hallens Road, Wednesbury. An assortment of women's clothing was found inside and officers were able to forensically link Taylor through the wig he left behind.

Further enquiries connected him to another knifepoint robbery where a woman had her handbag stolen while with her 11-year-old son in Lichfield Street, Walsall on 8 December last year. Taylor had stolen £250 from a woman during a cashpoint theft in the same street two days previously; and also threatened a man by putting a broken glass bottle to his throat after believing he had contacted his girlfriend last July. Detective Constable Jason Fowler, from force CID, said:

"Taylor may have tried to disguise himself as a woman but there was nothing lady-like about his actions. He may have thought putting on a wig would hide his identity, but it proved his downfall as we were able to forensically link him to the robbery through this.

"He thought nothing against threatening others and taking what wasn’t his own; now he and his alter ego face a lengthy period behind bars."

Taylor, of Tadmore Close, Bilston, was convicted of the offences following a trial and was jailed for a total of seven years at Wolverhampton Crown Court last Wednesday.