Brothers of football stars Rashford and Alexander-Arnold held up at gun point in violent robbery

The brothers of Premier League stars Trent Alexander-Arnold and Marcus Rashford say they 'feared for their lives' after they were held up at gunpoint during a cafe robbery.

Dane Rashford and Tyler Alexander-Arnold were knocked to the ground with a baseball bat and threatened with a gun and machete when three men burst into a cafe on Princess Road in Manchester wearing balaclavas.

They were hit with such force the bat broke in the attack, which only lasted a matter of minutes, before they sped off in a stolen car, Manchester Crown Court heard.

Three men now face "lengthy" jail sentences after being found guilty of the 'terrifying' violent robbery of five men, including Rashford and Alexander-Arnold.

Tariq Dervan, Romario Harmer and Talleko Lemonious, had denied all charges against them. Dervan and Harmer were found unanimously guilty on all counts after more than six hours of deliberations, with Lemonious found guilty on all by a majority of 10-2.

Jurors at Minshull Street Crown Court also found all three men guilty of possessing a double barrelled shotgun, as well as having a machete and a baseball bat.

During the trial, jurors heard Mr Rashford and Mr Alexander-Arnold were attacked and robbed of a £70,000 car and watches while eating breakfast on the morning of 12 January 2019.

The pair had met with Daniel Payne, Jacob Dunne-Simon, and Tre Gill and gone to Caribbean takeaway Little Rock, to have breakfast at about 10am before driving to Brighton to watch Liverpool play a Premier League game.

The group ordered food to eat in before three masked men burst into the café about 10 to 15 minutes later shouting and making demands for watches, armed with a baseball bat covered in black tape, a machete, and a sawn-off shotgun.

Mr Alexander-Arnold was not wearing a watch, so instead handed over his wallet and the keys to his £70,000 Range Rover.

Mr Rashford was made to hand over a Rolex worth £22,000, and Mr Dunne-Simon a Rolex worth up to £4,000.

In a statement Dane said "It didn't immediately register what was happening but I felt a hit to the top of my head."

He says he 'curled up' under the bar while hearing shouts of "give us the watches".Mr Rashford added he could not see what was going on as he lay protecting himself on the floor but then felt a 'prick' on his back before looking up and seeing a gun being "pointed towards my face".

At this point he "feared the worst" and said he thought "it was not worth losing his life over" so handed over his watch.

The next thing he knew, he said, the men were gone.

Mr Rashford's injuries required hospital treatment where he was given a number of stitches.

Tyler Alexander-Arnold described a similar experience and told the court he heard a shout of "get your watch off" and turned his head to see a bat being swung towards him, which hit him to the left side of his head.

"I couldn't believe what happened, I could feel blood dripping from my head.

"I could see my friends were injured as well, the police turned up and then I realised my car had been stolen."

Around an hour later the trio were arrested.During a search of the house, officers discovered the items stolen in the café robbery and the ski masks used in the attack.

Recorder Peter Horgan said lengthy jail sentences were 'inevitable'.Mr Horgan told the court: "You have been convicted of a number of serious offences for which you will be sentenced after a pre-sentence report has been prepared on you.

"I invite you to cooperate on those as this will assist me in determining the length of your sentence. I'm warning you not to expect anything other than a custodial sentence."

The Senior Crown Prosecutor for CPS North West, Carl Miles, described this incident as 'terrifying' and commended the victims for helping them bring their attackers to justice.

Carl Miles, Senior Crown Prosecutor for CPS North West, said following the trial: "Talleko Lemonious, Tariq Dervan and Romario Harmer carried out a terrifying armed robbery at a café in broad day light.

"In their greed, they showed utter disregard for the impact on their targeted victims and other customers and staff in the cafe, who genuinely feared for their lives, and were not afraid to use violence to get what they wanted."

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