Newark jewellers robbery : Gang gets 80 years

​A gang of armed robbers who raided a Newark jewellers were today sent to prison for a combined total of more than 80 years.

Judge Sarah Buckingham, said the robbery at family-run Andrew Michael’s Jewellers, on Stodman Street, had been sophisticated, professional and well-planned.

“It was a terrifying robbery which involved a great deal of planning and thought,” she said.

“You (the defendants) knew what was planned and what was going to happen.”

'She thought she was going to be killed'

The judge said a robbery at commercial premises was not without victims and consequences.

“A staff member who was trapped felt terrified,” she said.

“She thought she was going to be killed.”

Prosecutor Mr Adrian Lang-dale told Nottingham Crown Court the robbery, on January 6 last year, was committed by a determined gang.

“They were armed with various weapons, including a pump-action shotgun, which was brandished at staff and at two off-duty (police) officers who attempted to intervene,” Mr Langdale said.

Four men wearing dark clothing and full-face balaclava masks entered the shop while a fifth waited outside in a get-away car.

'I believed he was prepared to fire the gun'

Mr Langdale said the gunman ­— John Daly, 29, of Station Road, Birmingham, ­— aimed the weapon, which was an imitation, at staff while the others smashed display cabinets with hammers, grabbing high-value watches and jewellery.

“The terrified staff mainly managed to escape into a secure back room but one was left in the shop,” he said.

The staff member said Daly had stood in front of her on the other side of the counter pointing the gun straight at her face.

She told the police that she thought he was going to shoot.

“I was totally scared. I firmly believed that he was prepared to fire the gun,” she said in interview.

'An act of extraordinary bravery'

Lincolnshire police officers Sergeant Ian McIvor and Pc David Wilson, who were out in Newark, ran to help when they heard shouts and screams coming from the jewellers on Stodman Street.

“In an act of extraordinary bravery they confronted the gang and the gunman and attempted, at very considerable personal risk, to apprehend them,” said Mr Langdale.

Sergeant McIvor was confronted by Daly who held the shotgun towards him.

Daly shouted: “Get back or I will shoot you.”

PC Wilson said he believed the firearm was real and that the gunman intended to use it against them.

He said he had feared for his life and that of Sergeant McIvor.

The verbal threats to shoot continued so the officers, fearing for their safety, walked backwards out of the shop while telling the robbers to drop their weapons.

The robbers fled the shop and, as Daly tried to get into the get-away car, Sergeant McIvor grabbed hold of him.

Daly managed to get in the car and it pulled away, dragging Sergeant McIvor several metres along the road.

The gang escaped with 29 Breitling watches, three Bell And Ross watches and other jewellery worth a total of £¼m.

They abandoned the get-away car in Princes Street where other gang members were waiting with two further cars that took them to a house in Boston.

'Organised and directed the other conspirators'

Later that evening the main organiser, Nathan Clarke, 28, of Wrigsham Street, Coventry, who had stayed away to create an alibi, joined them.

“He organised and directed the other conspirators,” said Mr Langdale.

Two days after the robbery police saw Clarke’s car speeding in Coventry. They initially lost sight of him but at 2.20am saw him reversing out of his girlfriend’s address.

He was stopped and police found he was carrying £2,000 in cash.

They searched the area and found two plastic bags containing seven Breitling watches and five gold rings from the robbery, which were worth about £70,000.

A day later two more men were arrested after one of them tried to sell one of the stolen watches to the Andrew Michael’s shop in Newark, not realising that was where it had come from.

The other gang members were arrested over the next few weeks.