Shocking footage shows robbers ram-raiding a jewellery store in broad daylight and stealing £300,000 worth of gold in just 70 seconds.
John Gourlay, 49, Trevor Leek, 44, Justin Boylan, 51, Arfan Latif, 38, and Hassan Zulfiqar, 26, carried out the brazen heist in front of horrified shoppers on March 3 last year.
CCTV shows them reverse a stolen Highways Maintenance pickup truck into Danyaal Jewellers, in Sparkbrook, Birmingham, at 12.22pm.
Three of the men burst into the shop and one of them uses a sledgehammer to smash glass display cabinets before stuffing gold jewellery into sports bags.
The robbers spent just 70 seconds inside the shop before they fled the scene with between four and five kilograms of 22-carat gold jewellery worth £292,165.
A fourth man remained in the white Toyota Hilux while a fifth robber acted as “crowd control” waving an axe at witnesses before they sped off with their haul.
The gang then dumped the getaway car in a residential street half a mile away and sped off in an Audi.
Detectives used CCTV from nearby businesses, along with mobile phone footage filmed by witnesses, to identify the gang who were caught days later.
Ringleader Gourlay was captured on CCTV two hours later selling a stolen bangle for £1,500 in Birmingham’s Jewellery Quarter just three miles away from the raid.
Security cameras show him smiling and chatting with the shop owner before walking out with the money.
Officers linked him to the raid by his fingerprints which were on the sale sheet as well as identifying him from his clothing.
Minutes before the smash and grab, Zulfiqar was caught on CCTV at an auto-parts store in Birmingham buying tape and pads which were used to fix false number plates to cars used in the heist.
Detectives linked him to a stolen Land Rover after recovering backings to the pads left inside the vehicle which were covered in his thumbprints.
The five defendants were found guilty of conspiracy to rob and possessing an offensive weapon following a four-week trial at Birmingham Crown Court.
Jurors heard the gang used three vehicles during the raid, which included a black Land Rover Discovery, a white Toyota Hilux and a black Toyota Corolla.
The Land Rover and Toyota Corolla was used to block the road on either side of the jewellers while the Hilux reversed into the store.
A staff member was in the store at the time of the offence and was nearly struck by falling debris.
The five men, who are all from Birmingham, then made off in the Land Rover and Hilux, with the Toyota Corolla left at the scene.
Footage captured them abandoning the vehicles on King Street, Sparkbrook, before getting into a stolen Audi TTS and BMW 420 they had parked less than an hour earlier.
Jurors heard the five men kept in constant contact before the raid via phone.
Tags from the stolen jewellery were also found on the sofa at Boylan’s home after the robbery.
Dectective Constable Patrick Fuldun, from West Midlands Police’s Force Priorities Team, said: “This was clearly an extensively planned armed robbery, with careful thought by the five defendants going into disguising themselves, the vehicles and the locations of their phones.
“This robbery took place in broad daylight, on a busy street, and must have been horrendous for anyone witnessing it.
“The staff member inside narrowly escaped serious injury, if not worse.
“The offenders managed to make off with nearly £300,000 in jewellery.
“However, after excellent investigative work from our officers we were able to provide sufficient evidence for the jury to convict all five men for being present during the raid.
“We are delighted that all five have been convicted. It is a testament to the tenacity of officers at West Midlands Police and a firm deterrent to criminals considering a similar crime.”
Gourlay, of Selly Oak, Leek, of Kingstanding, Boylan, of Shard End, and Latif and Zulfiqar, both from Balsall Heath, will be sentenced next month.
Source: telegraph.co.uk