Gangsters' bill: 30 years in jail (From Witney Gazette)

Gangsters' bill: 30 years in jail

9:00am Wednesday 25th October 2006 in Witney By Matt Wilkinson

A GANG has been jailed for a total of more than 30 years after a foiled bank robbery in West Oxfordshire.

The six men crashed a stolen JCB into a Lloyds TSB in Burford last year attempting to steal the cash machine, but fled empty-handed after the digger broke.

Police arrested the six men - one from Eynsham, and the rest from Kent - only 15 minutes after the botched raid.

Alan Johnson, 53, of Eynsham, was the last of the gang to be sentenced on Monday, when he was jailed for four-and-a-half years.

Investigating officer, Det Sgt Howard Berry, of Witney CID, said: "These people are organised criminals, prepared to travel long distances to commit serious crime in isolated rural locations.

"On that night, the residents of Burford woke up to a frightening experience, seeing a large gang of men in balaclavas attacking a bank with a stolen JCB in a well-planned attempt to extract a cash point machine from a bank.

"This was a serious offence, and sentences from court reflect our view."

Johnson, whose address was given as a traveller camp near Eynsham, and four other members of the gang all changed their pleas and admitted conspiracy to steal as a trial was about to begin on October 16.

Sentencing Johnson, Judge Anthony Hall said the gang waited until the last minute before they realised the game was up. He said: "They were going down like nine-pins when other defendants were pleading guilty at the door of the court.

"There was no evidence to distinguish between their roles. If you (Johnson) had entered a plea of guilty earlier and not at the door of the court, I would have given you a greater credit, but you didn't."

Johnson called out to the judge from behind the glass screen in the dock as he was being sent down.

He said: "If I'd been given the opportunity to plead, I would have done that. I was taken from jail to jail, and one prison to another."

Nicolas Gerasimidis, defending, told the court Johnson had not been a major player in organising the raid.

He had been caught in Strawberry lay-by, near Eynsham, meeting co-defendants, after driving four of the robbers in his Jeep Cherokee away from the raid, he added.

Mr Gerasimidis said: "His role was effectively offering help to persons that he knew, and wasn't involved in stealing any of the vehicles used."

The rest of the gang all came from Tunbridge Wells, in Kent and were jailed on Friday.

George Smith, 38, and Matthew Cook, 30, were jailed for four-and-a-half years each, after admitting conspiracy to steal on the morning of the trial.

Dominic Edwards, 28, received four years, after admitting his involvement a week before the trial was to begin Steven Thornton, 32, who also entered a guilty plea at the start of the trial, was jailed for seven years and eight months for two counts of conspiracy to steal and driving offences.

Stephen Boyd was sentenced to five years, after he was found guilty of conspiracy to steal on Thursday, following a four-day trial at Oxford Crown Court.

All six were arrested in April 2005 only 15 minutes after the botched raid in Sheep Street, Burford, in the early hours of the morning.