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5 jailed for UK's biggest heist
29/01/2008 21:04 - (SA)
London - Five men were jailed for a total of at least 70 years on Tuesday after being convicted of kidnapping and robbery in Britain's biggest heist, a £53m (about R750m) raid on a cash depot in Kent.
The robbers, some dressed as policemen and most wearing prosthetic disguises, snatched the record haul after getting past tight security by kidnapping the depot's manager, his wife and son at gunpoint in a crime described by the judge as "organised banditry".
They also were helped by an "inside man", who not only provided details of the building's interior layout and security protocols, but also secretly filmed it using a tiny camera hidden on his belt.
Four get 15 years' minimum
Despite the elaborate planning, the gang was rounded up by police within days of the February 2006 raid at the Securitas depot in Tonbridge, after detectives received a tip-off.
Four members of the gang - Stuart Royle, 49, Jetmir Bucpapa, 26, Lea Rusha, 35, and Roger Coutts, 30 - were sentenced each to a minimum of 15 years' jail.
A fifth man, Ermir Hysenaj, 28, will serve a minimum of 10 years'.
All were convicted at the Old Bailey on Monday of conspiracy to kidnap, conspiracy to rob and conspiracy to possess firearms.
Another defendant, John Fowler, 59, was cleared of those charges while Keith Borer, 54, was found not guilty of handling stolen goods.
- Reuters
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