CCTV shows terrifying moment armed robbers ransack bank
Dramatic footage shows the moment armed robbers ransacked abank and terrified staff.
The gang of armed robbers who targeted 22 banks and post offices across Merseyside and Cheshire leaving staff and customers terrified have been jailed for a total of 83 years, four months at Liverpool Crown Court today.
The six men stole up to £1.5m in a six year period where they committed offences in Sefton, St Helens, Liverpool, Wirral, Warrington, Neston and Great Sutton.
The offenders used sledgehammers to force their way into premises, usually while staff were preparing to open for business or were cashing up at the end of the day, or used the element of surprise to drop in through the roof, having removed roof tiles.
Employees described the robberies as ‘terrifying’ with one victim saying she feared for her and her colleagues lives when the men burst in. Some victims were man-handled and injured by the robbers, others were threatened while being ordered to provide access to the bank’s cash.
The six men were arrested in a co-ordinated strike at dawn in Liverpool on November 26th last year following a joint investigation by Merseyside Police and Cheshire Constabulary.
Just two days earlier members of the gang had struck at a bank in Hull stealing a large amount of cash. During searches of homes in Aigburth and Toxteth on November 26th large amounts of cash, some drugs and CS gas were found. A Subaru Impreza was also seized.
All six men were charged and five pleaded guilty in January and February of this year. However Gary McNeill, aged 35, of Upper Pitt Street, Liverpool, denied any involvement in the robberies until his trial date approached and he changed his plea to guilty.
At the gang’s sentencing hearing at Liverpool Crown Court Judge David Aubrey QC read extracts from the personal statements of many of the victims. Judge Aubrey also heard the 999 calls that bank staff made to the police while the robberies were in progress.
Police call handlers were heard trying to keep the victims calm while patrols were deployed to the scene.
One victim, who was working in the Prescot Road branch of Halifax in Old Swan, Liverpool, when the gang burst in through the roof, said in her statement:
The woman told officers that since the robbery she had suffered months of sleepless nights and needed counselling as she was fearful about going to work and of being on her own. She added:
A young mother who was working in a Lloyds TSB branch in Wavertree, Liverpool when four gang members dropped in through the roof said the trauma of the incident had affected the early years of parenting. She said in her statement:
A victim from one of the Cheshire bank robberies said in her statement:
Detective Sergeant Rob Grantham from Cheshire Constabulary said:
The sentences are as follows:
Ian John Stewart, aged 49, formerly of Stonegate Drive, Toxteth – 13 years
Kieron Anthony Whittle, aged 35, of Little Parkfield Road, Aigburth – 15 years
John Paul Stewart, aged 30, of Waverley Road, Aigburth – 13 years, six months
Alan Robert Lea, aged 38, of Verney Crescent, Toxteth – 16 years
Shaun James McDonald, aged 38, of Charleston Road, Toxteth – 13 years, four months
Gary Thomas McNeill, aged 36, formerly of Upper Pitt Street, Liverpool city centre – 12 years, six months