A CONVICTED murderer committed a string of armed robberies on betting shops while out on day release from prison.

Joseph Williams targeted a Coral betting shop in Bromley Hill, Bromley, on June 30 last year, as well as bookmakers in Peckham and Croydon.

The 52-year-old carried out the offences between February and June last year while on day release from HMP Blantyre House in Kent.

Williams had been jailed for 12 years in 1996 for stabbing and beating Ayodele Odamttun to death with a knife and claw hammer at the victim’s Battersea flat in 1995.

Williams was found guilty of 20 charges in connection to a total of 11 robberies and attempted robberies, nine of which were while he was armed, at the Old Bailey yesterday (August 16).

The court heard Williams, from Bolton in Lancashire, would often cover his face with a scarf and carry what was believed to be a gun in a carrier bag to raid the bookmakers.

After being given day release towards the end of his murder sentence, he took a lorry driver job with a Croydon company, but carried out the raids to feed his gambling addiction.

After the hearing, Detective Chief Inspector Paul Johnson, of the Tower Bridge Flying Squad, said: “This conviction is the result of a meticulous and thorough investigation by officers from the Flying Squad.

“There is no doubt that Williams is a dangerous man who presented a real threat to the safety of the public in general and to betting shop staff and customers in particular.”

Williams will be sentenced at the Old Bailey on September 19.