A GANG of armed robbers who raided 22 banks and post offices – including the Natwest in Stockton Heath – have been jailed for 83 years.
Six men stole around £1.5 million in a six-year period of raids across Sefton, St Helens, Liverpool, Wirral, Warrington, Neston and Great Sutton.
They were jailed at Liverpool Crown Court today, Wednesday.
The offenders used sledgehammers to force their way into premises, usually while staff were preparing to open for business or cashing up at the end of the day.
The raid in Stockton Heath in saw them to take £64,000.
They also 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 26 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.
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.
The gang and their sentences:
- 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
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