The daughter of soap star Johnny Briggs grinned as

The daughter of soap star Johnny Briggs grinned as she was jailed for just three-and-a-half years for two ‘honey trap’ raids at the Old Bailey today.

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Karen Briggs, 35, whose father plays Coronation Street womaniser Mike Baldwin, was used as bait in a plot to steal more than pnds stlg 2,000 from a pub boss.

And within two months of helping set up the vicious burglary which left a brave householder for dead Briggs took part in a classic Bonnie and Clyde robbery.

She chose the ‘glamour’ of the twilight world of crime after shunning the glitz and show business life associated with her father.

But it was revealed today that Johnny Briggs is helping out by paying for the private education of Karen’s 13-year-old daughter Emma.

Drug ravaged Briggs had arranged to sell Ronald Hintz her car, and visited his home to clinch the deal.

As she kept him occupied in the lounge, two masked accomplices raided an upstairs room.

Briggs then turned on her own acting skills when her one-time lover Mr Hintz, 58, rumbled the scam and caught the two men in the act.

She pretended to be stunned by the robbery and played along as the gang took her ‘hostage’.

Mr Hintz, the landlord of her local pub, was held at gunpoint and stabbed in the chest as he tried to escape.

Mother-of-one Briggs was later arrested at her home in Staines, Middx, after she called 999 claiming her friend had been robbed.

She said she originally intended to sell her car but when two pals learnt that Mr Hintz was ‘wealthy’ they suggested setting him up.

Briggs said she agreed to go ahead because she ‘was not 100 percent against it’.

She told the jury she had fallen on hard times, and had planned to ask her famous dad for money but he was out of the country.

After a two-week trial she was convicted of burglary and cleared of aggravated burglary – a charge which Judge Jeremy Roberts, QC, said would have landed her with a 10 year spell behind bars.

Briggs, wearing a smart blue jacket and trouser suit, has a long record of offences mainly for petty theft and drugs matters.

In 1999 she was jailed for stealing jewellery from her mother, businesswoman Caroline Sinclair, who separated from her dad when she was only 12.

Her barrister Steven Hadley said it was a ‘pattern of somebody with a cocaine and heroin habit committing petty theft to feed her habit.

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But Mr Hadley said she is ‘extremely remorseful about what happened to her friend Mr Hintz.

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He claimed she descended into serious crime after meeting up with lover Gregory Crabtree.

‘Peculiarly to some people there is an element of glmaour about it.

‘It may have seemed very glamorous last summer but it is now pay back time,’ he added.

The jury had heard how she took part in a Bonnie and Clyde style robbery at a railway ticket office in Staines with Crabtree, 35, two months after the violent burglary.

‘Briggs and Crabtree were partners in love and in crime,’ said Brian Warner, prosecuting.

Security was stepped up at the Old Bailey when Briggs, stood alongside ‘serious professional criminal’ Crabtree earlier this month.

Crabtree, who is a Category A prisoner after a jail-break, still awaits sentence.

Judge Roberts said he was prepared to be merciful after hearing the hardships Briggs has endured behind bars due to her association with Crabtree.

Jailing her for just three-and-a-half years the judge blasted her for the mean offence involving Mr Hintz.

‘It was aggravated considerably by the fact he was a friend of yours.

‘It was a despicable thing to do and was a gross violation of his frienship and trust.

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But passing the lenient term the judge added: ‘I hope it will make you think about your future.

‘You will have to decide when you come out whether you continue your life of crime or make a fresh start.

‘I am sure you could do much more with your life than spend large parts of it behind bars.

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But she may be released in about a year as she has served nine months in custody and will probably only do half of the 42 month term before she is let out on licence.

The court had heard how on the night of June 14 last year the attractive brunette arrived at Mr Hintz’s home in New Denham, Bucks, to complete the car deal.

Mr Hintz invited her into the lounge where they sat drinking coffee and discussing the sale.

‘Mr Hintz heard someone moving on the stairs as Briggs was talking to him.

He then heard creaking floorboards,’ Mr Warner told the court.

‘He went upstairs and saw two men both wearing bobble hats and stocking masks and gloves.

‘The taller man had a knife and the smaller man carried an automatic pistol.

‘He was ordered to sit on his bed.

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Moments later the short man brought Briggs upstairs and ordered her to next to Mr Hintz.

The two men – who have never been traced – then helped themselves to the victim’s cash which had been prepared for the car sale.

At one stage, Mr Hintz made a daring dash for freedom, but was grabbed by the taller man and stabbed in the chest.

Mr Warner said: ‘He managed to get down the stairs and outside where he started shouting for help.

‘The two men chased him for a short while before going back inside.

Mr Hintz hid behind a car and watched his home.

‘A few moments later he saw the two men and Briggs come out of the house – they were not forcing or restraining her.

‘They all got into the Cavalier and she drove them away.

Mr Hintz’s neighbours came to his rescue shortly afterwards.

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Briggs later phoned police to report the robbery, but she was arrested at her home after Mr Hintz told officers he suspeced she was part of the plan.

Giving evidence, Mr Hintz had told the court he only agreed to buy the car because Briggs spun him a sob story about being kicked out of her home.

He said: ‘She asked me if I could help her out.

‘She said she was about to be evicted from her flat but that I didn’t have to lend her money but I could buy her Vauxhall Cavalier and that would be enough to pay off the eviction order.

‘She had wanted pnds stlg 2,500 but I phoned around a couple of my mates and they said pnds stlg 2,200 would be the right amount if everything was in good condition and OK.

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Mr Hintz said he had known Briggs as a customer at his bar, the Kiwi Fayre in Staines Road West, Ashford, Middsx, for up to four years.

Despite Briggs’ claims that they were never an item he insisted they struck up a love affair after meeting in Tenerife.

‘The relationship lasted for three or four months.

It was intimate and sexual,’ Mr Hintz revealed.

At an earlier trial which could not be reported for legal reasons Briggs and Crabtree were accused of taking part in a spree of armed robberies.

The prosecution claimed she was a member of a gang who targeted railway stations using pistols and sawn-off shotguns.

During an attack in Staines on August 22 last year Briggs was again used as a honey trap to lure a clerk from his ticket office.

Seconds later Crabtree ambushed the victim, holding a blade to his throat and threatening to slit him.

Crabtree grabbed more than pnds stlg 2,000 from the safe and jumped into a get-away car driven by Briggs.

The couple checked into the Heathrow Marriot Hotel using false names and a stolen credit card but later switched to Pope’s Grotto Hotel.

But they were arrested when a hotel maid found a fake pistol wrapped in a bath mat.

At the earlier trial Briggs, of Wyatt Road, Staines, was cleared of robbery but convicted of the alternative charge of theft.

Briggs is originally from Windlesham, Surrey.

Crabtree, of no fixed address, was convicted of robbery.

He was also found guilty of handling a stolen credit card and attempted theft in relation to an attack on the Egham booking office in Surrey on August 21.

They had both denied conspiracy to rob and the jury was discharged from reaching a verdict.

The charge alleged that they took part in raids on ticket offices in Ashford and Datchet, Berks.

A third member of the gang, Craig McBride, is already serving a 33 month jail term for firearm and ammunition charges.

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