Six men from the Black Country have been charged by police after a spate of armed shop robberies in Dudley and Sandwell.

Four of the men were arrested by armed police in Dudley on Friday, while two other suspects were charged after a separate investigation.

Kyle Dingley, Lee Pritchard, Aiden Jenkins and Brad Arnold - all from the Dudley borough - were detained by armed officers in Wellington Road at around 5.30pm on Friday, shortly after an off-licence in nearby Priory Road was robbed.

Dingley, 18, of Victoria Road, Cradley Heath; Pritchard, 23, of Gloucester Road, Netherton and Jenkins, 19, of Field Road, Dudley, have all been charged with one robbery. Twenty-year-old Arnold, of Beechwood Road, Dudley, has been charged with two robberies

Meanwhile James Taplin and Martin Rollason, both aged 30, have been charged over a series of raids at One Stop convenience stores.

Taplin, of Hawthorn Road, Tipton, is accused of seven counts of robbery, seven counts of possessing an offensive weapon and one charge of cultivating cannabis.

Rollason, of Albion Field Drive, West Bromwich, is suspected of six robberies and six counts of possessing an offensive weapon.

All six men have been remanded in custody, and were due to appear at Dudley Magistrates Court today.