Security van driver convicted of inside job

A security van driver who falsely claimed he was handcuffed to the wheel of by a gang of robbers has been convicted of stealing £920,000.

Andrew Measor, 51, claimed robbers had handcuffed him to the wheel of his van and he had only managed to raise the alarm by dialling the number with his nose.

But he was caught bragging about faking his stress related illness after the fake heist and boasted to friends he was ‘milking it’, Southwark crown court heard.

Measor was convicted by a jury of conspiracy to steal and conspiracy to pervert the course of justice.

Cantaris earlier admitted conspiracy to steal and was found guilty of conspiracy to pervert the course of justice.

Both were acquitted by the jury of conspiracy to conceal or transfer criminal property.

Five others were cleared of involvement in the plot following a six week trial at Southwark Crown Court.

Earlier prosecutor Charlotte Hole said the conspiracy involved ‘stealing a large amount of money from a cash in transit vehicle.;

‘Having stolen that money, the second aim was to conceal it both to hide their links to the money and to prevent it from being recovered.

‘Thirdly, achieving the theft of the money in the first place by the participation of an inside man from the company running the cash in transit vehicle, in this case Loomis.

‘The prosecution says that each of these defendants, to varying degrees, were involved in the theft of a large amount of money, £920,000, from Loomis, with the assistance and full participation of the Loomis driver from whom the money was taken, Andrew Measor.

‘They sought to hide this by faking a robbery. They have then, to the most part, successfully hidden the money that was stolen.’

She told the jury: ‘You can already be sure of one thing; you can be sure that there was a conspiracy to steal because Mr Cantaris accepts that there was by having pleaded guilty and he accepts that he was involved.’

Measor left the depot in Dagenham on 30 December 2021 with £920,000 in bank notes and £14,660 in coins in his van, the court heard.

When the van arrived in Friary Lane, Ilford, Measor placed shopping bags full of cash in the van’s airlock.

A white Vauxhall Combo van pulled up and two men got out to collect the bags.

Measor then drove his van to Oak Lane and handcuffed himself to the steering wheel.

Two hours later, Measor called the landline number of the Loomis depot at Dagenham.

He said he had been robbed at 5:00am that morning when a man approached him with a gun and had said: ‘I know everything that goes on, just do as I say and everything will be ok.’

Measor said he was handcuffed to the steering wheel of his van and had tried to get passers-by to help him, but no-one had paid him any attention.

‘He explained that he’d had to use his nose to dial the number,’ said the prosecutor.

‘He explained that the thieves had given him bags to put the money into and he had then passed the bags out to them.’

Measor appeared calm after the incident but he claimed that he had PTSD and told Loomis he needed time off, the court heard.

‘It appears that he claims he was traumatised from the events that occurred,’ Ms Hole said.

‘If this had been a genuine robbery, of course that would be expected.’

Ms Hole read out messages from his mobile phone to the jury.

‘He told one friend that he’d been signed off sick from work due to post-traumatic stress, and then added that he was “milking time off.”’

In another conversation with someone who appears to have been a colleague at Loomis, he discussed the police investigation and speculated that the police may think that he was involved.

He then commented, “Was starting to sort out comp claim… apparently I get more if it goes to court… more stress etc… June 13th I’m still milking.’

‘In another conversation, he again talked about “milking the f*ckers” and told the person with whom he was communicating to keep an eye out for any available work for him.

He also told them it was ”defo an inside job.”

Cantaris met with Measor several times before the raid, and CCTV and phone evidence linked the others to them, the court heard.

Measor, of Loughton, Essex, denied but was convicted of conspiracy to steal and conspiracy to pervert the course of justice.

He was acquitted of conspiracy to conceal or transfer criminal property.

Cantaris, of Epping, Essex, admitted conspiracy to commit theft and was found guilty at trial of conspiracy to pervert the course of justice. He denied and was acquitted of conspiracy to conceal or transfer criminal property.

Terrance Burrell, 57, of Eping, Mark Kendall, 56, Paul McSweeeney, 55, of Watford, Christopher Shipp, 35, of Bishop’s Stortford, and Saimir Neziri, 38, of Barnet, were all acquitted by the jury of conspiracy to steal, conspiracy to conceal or transfer and conspiracy to do acts intended to pervert the course of justice.

They hugged eachother as the jury foreman delivered the verdicts.

Measor was released on conditional bail ahead of sentence on 24 March, subject to a curfew, electronic monitoring and not applying for international travel documents.