WATCH: Worker marched through Spar by violent robbery gang
This is the moment a terrified worker was marched through a shop by a violent robbery gang, who have today been jailed for a combined total of 50 years.
The men, including three brothers, were jailed at Stafford Crown Court for stealing high-powered vehicles, including Audis, Mercedes and a Volkswagen from houses in Staffordshire and the West Midlands and using them to carry out raids across the regions.
The terrifying footage was filmed at a Spar shop on Stafford Street in Brewood. Staff were threatened with a blade and forced to open a safe. £5,000 cash and cigarettes were stolen. A female worker can be seen with her arms gripped by one of the gang as she is forced into a back room at the store. Once inside, the one of the crooks searches for cash in an office.
Robbery Gang Jailed from Staffs Police on Vimeo.
Stafford Crown Court heard that brothers Thomas, Lee and Gavin Cotterill, along with two other men, Adam Cheshire and Jake Bilboe, all from Wednesfield, Wolverhampton, had targeted a bank in Burntwood, as well as shops, garages and cash transit vehicles in a conspiracy to commit robberies and burglaries.
On November 10 last year the five men in balaclavas used a circular saw to cut open a metal box and take £15,000 as they robbed a Barclays bank on Cannock Road in Burntwood.
Five days later thousands of pounds worth of damage was caused to Falcon filling station in Ivetsey Bank, near Wheaton Aston, while the following the day stock was taken from the Nisa store on Stroud Avenue in Willenhall.
At 11pm on the day of the Stroud Avenue robbery, the men attempted to seal an Audi from a garage in Walsall.
The following day the five men, with masks over their faces, robbed the One Stop on Creswell Crescent, Walsall, stealing £3,490 from a cash transit collection.
The previous month, on October 27, a security guard was assaulted on Broad Street, Wolverhampton, as he collected cash from parking machines. He was pushed to the ground, kicked and punched as the men got away with an estimated £700.
Just before 11pm on the same day, they struck at the Spar in Brewood.
In an earlier raid on September 27 the men smashed a window at Tesco Express in Aldridge and stole spirits, using a VW and Audi to get away.
Gavin Cotterill, aged 33, of Clare Avenue, Wednesfield, Wolverhampton, and Adam Cheshire, aged 21, of Castlebridge Gardens, Wednesfield, Wolverhampton, were found guilty of conspiracy to commit robbery; conspiracy to commit burglary (dwellings) and conspiracy to commit burglary (commercial). Cotterill was sentenced to 11 years and Cheshire 12.
Thomas Cotterill, aged 23, of Castlebridge Gardens, Wednesfield, Wolverhampton; and Lee Cotterill, aged 30 of Clare Avenue, Wednesfield, Wolverhampton; pleaded guilty to the same three offences at a hearing on April 12. The pair were sentenced to 10 years each.
A fifth man, Jake Bilboe, aged 20, of Griffiths Drive, Wednesfield, Wolverhampton, was found guilty of conspiracy to commit robbery and conspiracy to commit burglary (dwellings). He was sentenced to seven years.
They were convicted on June 13 at Stafford Crown Court and sentenced today.
Recorder Michael Elsom, sentencing, told the men: "This was a series of robberies and burglaries designed to enrich yourselves. There is little doubt there was a ready market for these high-value cars."
The court heard that a number of burglaries took place in which car keys were stolen to gain access to vehicles, including a red VW Golf from Sambrook Road, Wednesfield, on September 26 and an Audi S5, from Alexander Road, Codsall, on October 17 or 18. A further attempt was made to steal an Audi TT and Audi S3 in a burglary in Willow Grove, Essington, in October 2016.
On October 24 2016 a man was getting out of his Audi RS5 at his driveway in Tyrley Close, Compton, Wolverhampton, when he was thrown to the floor and his keys snatched and car stolen. A white Mercedes E63 was stolen in a burglary at Barbell Drive, Wednesfield on November 8, along with clothing and electrical items. An Audi A3 was stolen in a burglary at Fibbersley, Willenhall, on November 16 while a Toyota Corolla was stolen from Bescot Crescent, Walsall, on the same day.
Detectives from Staffordshire Police’s major and organised crime team pieced together the conspiracy tracking mobile phone calls, examining CCTV and gathering forensic evidence from discarded clothing and litter, and intelligence.
Detective inspector Pete Cooke, the senior investigating officer on the case, said: "They turned phones off during the commission of several of their crimes and conducted internet research to produce cloned number plates that matched similar, existing vehicles.
“They are dangerous men who took care to disguise themselves and were prepared to use violence to achieve their aims.”
He added: “This investigation is the culmination of a great deal of hard work, gathering intelligence and painstaking detection. We want to reassure our communities in Staffordshire that we will not tolerate this behaviour and will pursue criminals who believe they can profit from using fear and violence relentlessly.”
