Criminals behind £3.6 million worth of thefts
Members of a robbery gang, which carried out a series of jewellery raids on shops in the South - including two in Wimbledon - were jailed for more than 220 years.
A group of 30 criminals were behind 34 robberies, netting them £3.6 million worth of watches and jewellery during a 16-month period.
For each raid a group of up to four robbers, dressed in white overalls wearing with balaclavas, would arm themselves with sledge hammers, axes and CS spray and smash their way into jewellery shops.
Members of the gang also targeted motorcycle dealerships. They would tie up staff which allowed the gang time to load numerous motorcycles into stolen vans. They then committed robberies using these stolen motorcycles as getaway vehicles, Kingston Crown court was told.
They struck at A E Halfhide & Son on Wimbledon Hill Road on February 14, 2008, and Eternal Jewellers in the High Street, Wimbledon Village, on February 19, 2009. The image above is from their one raid outside the UK - which was in Antwerp, Belgium.
They were tracked down when they stole £58,000 worth of watches from a Guildford jewellery shop in March 2009. They wore white overalls as they smashed shop windows while a getaway car waited. But police had mounted a surveillance operation and they were arrested.
The five ringleaders were said to be James Stewart, 28, brothers Billy, 28, and Danny Johnson, 29, Anthony Bado, 28, and John Chambers, 35.
Billy Johnson, of Peckham, was given 10 years and eight months and his brother 11 years and four months at the court on Thursday February 3. James Stewart, from Maidstone, received 14 years; Anthony Bado, from Bournemouth, received 12 years; John Chambers received nine years nine months.
Tony Hough, 21, of Brockley, was also jailed for 11 years, Daniel Tait-Mackenzie, 20, of Penge, was given seven years and eight months, Jason Fergus, 28, of Nunhead, eight years and eight months, Olawale Korodo, 20, of Forest Hill, two years and six months, Michael Stephenson, 23, of East Dulwich, five and a half years, Hassan Ibrahiym, 20, of Peckham, four and a half years, Lee Fairbank, of no fixed address, 15 years, Albert Bado, of Eltham, nine years and four months, Mark Hardy, from Bournemouth, eight years, Grant Findlay, of no fixed address, seven years, Caroline Bado, of Greenwich, a 12-month suspended sentence, and Lee Rawling, of Bromley, six years.
Richard Prepah, 29, of Lewisham, was jailed for six years on Friday February 4, David Martin, 34, of Lewisham, was given eight years, Aaron Philips, 22, of Lewisham, eight years, Sean Leo, of no fixed address, seven years, Aaron Stillwell, 29, of Eltham, six years and eight months, Charles Sadler, 22, of Woolwich, 11 years, Andrew Paterson, 24, of Eltham, 10 years and six months, Kevin David Cook, 28, of Hackney, seven years, Terry King, 35, of Eltham, eight years, Funda Drummonds, of West Norwood, three years and six months in a young offenders' institute, Frank Bishop, 31, of Walworth, eight years, Sean Nammock, 29, of Holland Park, six years and Malcolm Hambleton, 63, of Abbeywood, three years.
February 6, 2011