£6m lorry hijackings gang face ten years

Two robbers who were part of a violent gang which hijacked 40 lorries around the Midlands with loads totalling £6 million were today facing up to 10 years in prison.

Drivers were kidnapped and attacked with baseball bats as the thugs targeted valuable loads of metal, some worth up to £1.5 million alone.

Gang members, often wearing fluorescent jackets, would tap on the windows of sleeping drivers' cabs to warn them the curtains on the sides of their trucks had been slashed.

Drivers would go to investigate and were attacked, their loads stolen and vehicles dumped.

Satellite jamming equipment was used to stop lorries being tracked after they were stolen.

Leigh Astbury and Peter Saunders appeared before Wolverhampton Crown Court yesterday to admit their roles in three robberies each, but police say up to 10 people were involved in some attacks.

Truckers parked up overnight waiting to deliver their loads were sometimes approached by gang members posing as officials.

Drivers would either get out of the cab to talk to the men, or the gang would smash their way into the cab. During one attack, a driver was "pinned down" while his lorry and trailer were driven away. Lorries were often dumped in Lynn Lane, Shenstone, near Lichfield.

Astbury, aged 29, of Queens Road, Calf Heath, near Wolverhampton, admitted conspiracy to rob on the basis that he did not use violence. Saunders, aged 37, of Harvester Road,

Manor Farm, Walsall, admitted the same offence and said he had driven loads once they had been taken.

The pair face maximum 10-year jail terms.

Stephen Smith, of Kings Road, Calf Heath, admitted handling stolen goods, while Astbury's wife Marie Deakin, 30, of Queens Road, admitted perverting the course of justice by disposing of some property. All four were bailed until they are sentenced in June.