Machete falls out of robber's trousers as he is tasered in Nottingham McDonald's

Published 21 October 2026, 15:32

• Theo Gottshalk, 20, told a teenage victim he would 'chop' his arm off if he did not surrender his phone.
• Spotted on a bus weeks later, he violently fought arrest in the Clumber Street restaurant before being zapped
• 'A callous and violent criminal,' said Detective Constable Ben Grayson, after Gottshalk was jailed for an extended 13 years

A large machete fell out of a robber's trousers after he was tasered by an officer while violently resisting arrest in a McDonald's restaurant in Clumber Street, Nottingham.

Theo Gottshalk, now aged 20, of Gladstone Street, Forest Fields, told his teenage victim he would "chop" his arm if he did not surrender his phone, in a robbery that took place on Woolpack Lane, Nottingham.

He fled with the phone, a bracelet and a chain at around noon on Tuesday 9 September last year.

A Nottingham bus passenger spotted Gottshalk on the evening of 23 October and alerted police.

Officers pursued him into the Clumber Street McDonald's, where he put up a violent struggle against arrest in an attempt to flee.

After a brief struggle inside the restaurant, an officer deployed a taser on Gottshalk, who was by then shirtless, and the large machete fell from his trousers.

The distinctive red-handled weapon matched the description his victim had previously given.

A search conducted afterward also turned up a number of pre-packaged bags of cannabis.

Clothing taken from Gottshalk was subsequently matched by detectives to CCTV footage captured during the original offences.

His subsequent guilty plea covered charges of robbery, carrying a knife in a public place, and holding cannabis with intent to supply.

Gottshalk also admitted to two further robberies in Birmingham, one on 25 September 2023 and another on 12 September 2024.

He also admitted a firearms charge after a converted blank-firing pistol was found on him in Birmingham in November 2023.

Appearing at Birmingham Crown Court on Friday 16 October, Gottshalk was handed an extended 13-year custodial sentence.

Detective Constable Ben Grayson said: "Theo Gottshalk is a callous and violent criminal who appears to think he can take what he wants when he wants from other people."

"He also thought nothing of putting lives at risk by carrying such a large and potentially lethal weapon in a public place," he added.

"He was at this point a danger to the wider public," DC Grayson said.

"I am pleased he has now been held to account," he said.