text: Jamie Robbins (above) handed himself into the police a year after he stole £1,600 from a convenience store in Birmingham with an accomplice because he preferred life in jail . A robber handed himself into police a year after he raided a convenience store saying he preferred life in jail. Jamie Robbins stole £1,600 from the Select 'n' Save shop in Kings Norton, Birmingham, with an accomplice on January 13, 2014. The case was not solved until the 35-year-old walked into a police station earlier this year and said: 'Please arrest me.' Robbins was jailed for four-and-a-half years after pleading guilty to robbery and possession of a bladed article at Birmingham Crown Court on Thursday. Ayoub Khan, defending, said Robbins had felt he could not cope outside of prison and wanted to go back behind bars. But Mr Khan added that the day before his court appearance Robbins discovered his girlfriend was pregnant - and no longer wanted to be given a custodial sentence. 'There has been an enormous change in direction of his life. He now has purpose in his life,' he said. Judge Murray Creed, sentencing, described the events as 'unusual' as the inquiry had stopped. He said: 'But for your surrender it does not look as though matters would have recommenced. This was a group attack, planned, and there was a weapon and disguises.' Robbins, of no fixed address, gave detectives full details of the robbery. He explained how he and another masked man had waited outside the store until a woman and her small child had finished their shopping. Robbins then burst into the shop with a machete and his accomplice, and demanded the shopkeeper hand over the safe. Judge Murray Creed, sentencing, described the events as 'unusual' at the hearing at Birmingham Crown Court (above) He threatened the owner with the knife and the pair escaped with £1,600, which they split between them. Robbins even told police the getaway driver did not get his cut because he had not waited in the car as had been agreed. Christopher Lester, prosecuting, said: 'The day before the incident, Robbins was called and asked if he wanted to be in a robbery. 'The next day he met two other men and the defendant took the weapon.' Mr Lee added that the original police investigation had not been successful and Robbins was only convicted because of the evidence he gave in interview.
target: Jamie Robbins raided a Select 'n' Save shop in Birmingham last January .
  Case was not solved until he walked into a police station and confessed .
  35-year-old was sentenced to four-and-a-half years on Thursday .