Three armed robbers who embarked on a terrifying c
Three armed robbers who embarked on a terrifying campaign, shooting a security guard and dousing another in petrol were jailed for a total of 52 years at the Old Bailey today.
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When police snared Stephen Porritt, 36, Michael Hickey, 29, and John Hayward, 29, they caught the violent team with a MAC 10 machine pistol, similar to those used by US soldiers in Vietnam.
Flying Squad detectives moved in to arrest the three in May 1997 when they were getting ready for an attack on a security van armed with the MAC 10, designed to pierce armour-plated glass windows.
Surveillance of the gang revealed they had also sized up a Brinks Mat van while they were at large.
Opening the case Mr Richard Horwell prosecuting had said with banks and building societies more difficult to rob than ever before the ‘weak link in the chain of money supply is undoubtedly the security guard.
‘The defendants conducted a determined campaign of armed robbery in the south east of England – they were at times both persistent and ruthless.
‘ Mr Horwell said.
After a trial lasting over three months, costing more than a million pounds to the taxpayer the jury, which had received around the clock armed police protection, convicted Porritt, Hickey, Hayward of conspiracy to rob a Securicor depot on April 4 last year.
Then a guard had been covered in petrol before the gang made off empty-handed.
Hickey and Porritt were further convicted of robbing a security van on May 14 last year at Clacton-on-Sea, Essex, bagging pnds stlg 30,000 that time.
Hickey and Porritt were also found guilty of causing grievous bodily harm to a security guard with intent, callously blasting his leg at close range.
Hayward, Hickey and Porritt were also convicted of two counts of having a firearm with intent on the day of their arrest two weeks later.
Porritt, of Woodlands Way, Petts Wood, Orpington, Kent,
Hickey, of Belgravia Gardens, Bromley and Hayward of Ector Road, Catford, se London, denied the charges.
A fourth man Steven Stone, 40, of Buxton Street, Whitechapel, e.
London was acquitted of conspiracy to rob and robbery.
A dock fight broke out as his acquittal was announced as Stone was attacked by his enraged co-defendants shouting: ‘You grass, you should have told the truth.
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The three convicted men also shouted abuse at their lawyers.
The court had to be cleared and Judge David Paget, QC, convened sentenced each defendant, one by one, with three prison officers flanking each man, and a further seven strategically around the court.
The judge sentenced Porritt and Hickey to 18 years imprisonment each and jailed Hayward for 16 years.
After the men were taken down Judge Paget said: ‘They were in my judgment wicked offences.
The shooting of a security guard and the possession of a machine pistol makes it very grave indeed.
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The judge said in April 1997 the Dartford Securicor depot in Kent came under attack in while a ‘number of security vans were queueing to enter the premises.
‘One guard was taken at gunpoint and another knocked to the floor and had petrol poured over him.
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Four bullets were fired from shotguns at a van occupied by guards but the armoured glass windows only shattered, not breaking and the robbers left empty-handed.
‘It must have been a terrifying experience particularly for the guard taken hostage.
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Judge Paget said on May 14 last year Porritt and Hickey ‘shot a guard in the leg fracturing his thigh simply because he was slow to hand over the money.
‘The guard is not a young man and will clearly be affected by this for the rest of his life.
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When arrested on May 28 last year Porritt, Hickey and Hayward were caught with two guns including the one used to shoot the guard.
‘More sinister than that they had a machine pistol loaded with 26 rounds of ammunition.
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one squeeze would have shot up to 26 rounds within seconds.
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The judge said after the gang had failed to shatter the van’s armour-plated windows at the Dartford depot, even with ‘improvised heavy shot.
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‘Therefore a military machine pistol almost certainly would capable of penetrating armoured glass.
‘It is clear they all intended to commit a robbery on the day of their arrests.
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During the trial about thirty policemen, mainly Flying Squad officers, had faced corruption claims from defence barristers in the case.
The defendants had maintained they were victims of a police ‘fit up.
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Mr Horwell described the cross examination conducted by the defence as ‘aggressive’ amid current claims of widespread police corruption.
The judge went onto commend the detectives involved in the case as well as the prison officers who guarded the dangerous defendants in the dock day to day.
The first raid in April 1997 at Securicor’s Dartford depot was described as ‘very high risk, but with the prospect of very high rewards.
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The court heard how Porritt and Hickey were among other masked men who invaded the top security compound while up to seven vans queued to make their cash deliveries on a busy Friday night.
One robber was nearly trapped in a steel fence in the unloading area and after that mayhem broke out, said Mr Horwell.
Three bandits, carrying what eye-witnesses described as double-barrel sawn-off shot guns and a pistol, tried to force the guards to open their vans, the jury was told.
A security guard was then taken hostage.
‘He was taken hold off and a pistol was pushed into his temple while other robbers fired into van windows.
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Mr Horwell said one of the raiders cried out: ‘Open the door or I will blow his head off.
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They pushed the man towards the van pouring petrol over him as they went, the jury heard.
‘The security guard pleaded with the van occupants for the door to be opened,’ said Mr Horwell.
After dragging out another guard and threatening him with a gun the robbers escaped, empty-handed, in a getaway car driven by a fourth member of the team.
On 14 May last year Porritt and Hickey struck again but this time they were unmasked in order to avoid suspicion as they waited in the car-park of Safeways in Clacton-on-Sea, Essex, the jury heard.
Mr Horwell said after the attack they were ‘pnds stlg 30,000 better off for their efforts.
‘There are high risks but very high rewards for the use of short but extreme violence.
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As a security guard transported cash from his van to a cash machine outside the supermarket Porritt and Hickey attacked him, Mr Horwell said.
‘They sprinted towards the guard – they ran up to the guard without any disguises.
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Porritt was holding a handgun and Hickey hit the guard as they demanded the bag of money with the warning: ‘Give us the money or we will shoot you.
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Witnesses saw a struggle ensue and, said counsel: ‘Hickey turned to Porritt and said: ‘Shoot him.
”
‘Porritt deliberately took aim and shot the guard in the leg,’ Mr Horwell continued.
On one occasion the gang, who would steal cars from local garages to cover their tracks, abandoned two vehicles when they became aware they were under police surveillance.
Porritt, Hickey and Hayward were eventually arrested when they pulled up in a garage forecourt in Maldon, Essex, on 28 May last year, caught with a ‘robber’s kit.
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Police oficers took the decision to arrest the men believing the police operation was compromised and that the men were aware of the surveillance they were under.
In the car with the three were found guns, balaclavas and ammunition.
One of the guns was a loaded MAC 10 or ‘big Mac’ sub-machine gun, a British copy of the American Ingram gun, capable of shooting 26 rounds in one pull of the trigger – or an awesome 1,100 rounds a minute.
The fully loaded machine gun was found with a pistol, also loaded, three balaclavas, three pairs of overalls and a pair of bolt cutters, the jury was told.
He added that the stolen car, the balaclavas found inside and ‘considerable firepower’ available to them proved they were getting ready for an afternoon attack on delivery vans.
Hickey was carrying a 200-channel radio, seventeen stations of which were programmed to intercept police calls.
The court was also told how on 9 May last year Porritt and Hayward were tracked by police to a parking spot near a Brinks Mat Security Depot in Central London.
‘They were well positioned to see any security van leaving,’ said Mr Horwell.
They stayed there for fifteen minutes and then tailed a Brinks Mat van that had just left the depot, eventually losing it but going through at least one red light in an attempt to keep up, the jury heard.
Before they were arrested the gang also sized up a quiet village green post office in Woodcote, Surrey, ‘plainly with a view to robbing it.
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ends
