An 88-year-old have-a go-hero who tried to foil a bank raid in Bath has welcomed the news that four men have been jailed for their part in a series of robberies across the country.
It was in January 2012 that former Bath police officer Gordon King, now 90, who lives in the city, was walking along Moorland Road when he saw two men attack a security van driver outside the Lloyds TSB bank.
The great-grandfather-of-two went into action with his walking stick and, without a thought for his own personal safety, confronted the men to try to stop them getting away with the box of money.
Mr King, who was a police officer in Bath and Bristol for 29 years, said afterwards: “I realised what was happening so I got my stick and gave one of them a whack. Then I gave him a few more whacks and broke my stick over his head. I would’ve laid him out, but then this other guy came over and pushed me down in the road.”
Mr King’s aluminium collapsible walking stick was broken in the incident and he was left with a bump to his head, which needed hospital treatment.
The robbers managed to escape and police recovered an abandoned stolen car with false number plates in a nearby street.
Mr King said his policing instinct kicked in when he saw the crime taking place and that he would do exactly the same thing again.
He said: “It was instinct. I just knew what was happening. I thought, you don’t see people in balaclavas unless something is wrong. I jumped straight in and didn’t think twice. Afterwards I did think to myself that they could’ve had a knife or a gun. But I would absolutely do it again.”
On Friday he said he was pleased that, after two years, the men had been brought to justice.
“Even now I get stopped in the street by people who recognise me and ask me about what happened. My daughter say I was a silly fool, but I just did what I thought was right,” he said.
At Winchester Crown Court on Friday 28th February, four men were sentenced to a total of 23 years imprisonment for their roles in a conspiracy to rob security staff outside banks across the South of England.
Two of the men had been members of a gang who went to prison after attacking guards at exactly the same locations just five years earlier. During the last of those attacks, at Chandlers Ford in September 2007, another two of the robbers had been shot dead by police.
Caston Francis, 52, of Neil Wates Crescent, Tulse Hill, South London; Leon Hall, 36, of Oxtoby Way, Streatham, South London, Leon McKenzie, 33, of Rookery Gardens, Orpington, Kent, and Clifford Griffiths, 36, of Aragon Road, Wandsworth, South London, were sentenced at Winchester Crown Court today, Friday 28 February, having been convicted of conspiracy to rob G4S guards in relation to;
- Robbery at Barclays Bank, Hucclecote, Gloucester, on 14th June, 2011.
- Attempted robbery at Barclays Bank, Tilehurst, Berkshire, on 23th August, 2011.
- Robbery at Barclays Bank, Hucclecote, Gloucester, on 20th September 2011.
- Robbery at HSBC, Chandlers Ford, Hampshire, on 24th November, 2011.
- Robbery at Lloyds TSB, Bath, Somerset, on 25th January, 2012.
- Attempted robbery at Barclays Bank, Hucclecote, Gloucester on 3rd April, 2012.
A total of £100,000 cash was stolen and no money has so far been recovered.
Hall was sentenced to six and a half years, McKenzie was sentenced to six years, Griffiths to five and a half years, and Francis to five years. The sentences took into account time they had already spent on remand in custody awaiting trial and sentencing.
Hall and McKenzie, who had been amongst the gang sentenced in 2008, were also served with Serious Crime Prevention Orders (SCPO) which restrict their access to phones, computers and other communications devices, and vehicles, and require notification to police of their whereabouts once released.
Francis had been convicted at Winchester Crown Court on 20 December. The other three had pleaded guilty at earlier hearings.
Jacqueline Smith, 35, of Mitcham, South London, was found not guilty of the same offence after the trial ending at the same Court on 20 December.
The charges, authorised by the Crown Prosecution Service, followed a protracted investigation led by the South East Regional Organised Crime Unit (SEROCU). SEROCU, which is based in Sussex, comprises police officers and staff from the forces of Kent, Sussex, Surrey, Hampshire, and Thames Valley and works in conjunction with UK Border Agency, HM Revenue and Customs, and the National Crime Agency (NCA) to combat cross-border organised crime.
SEROCU officers, with extensive and armed support from NCA officers, worked closely with forces in the areas involved to investigate the attacks and after intensive enquiries over several months caught Hall, Griffiths and McKenzie as they lay in wait for a security van in Gloucester in April 2012. Francis, who was by then serving a prison sentence for a serious assault in London, was charged separately.
Detective Superintendent Steve Black said: “Working with the Metropolitan Police Flying Squad and police forces across the region we identified the pattern of these robberies, and it became clear that the same locations were being targeted. However the ones involved this time were only six amongst 18 across the whole of the south of England which had been attacked in 2006/7.
“Our operation therefore also had to spread across Suffolk, London, Wiltshire, Cambridgeshire, Essex and Leicestershire, and involved many long days of patient intelligence gathering and assessment to ensure public safety..
“In the previous series the robbers had used firearms so we had to be prepared for that eventuality too, and the NCA firearms teams were a vital part of the operation. This time round the robbers did not carry weapons but that was not clear until they were arrested.
“But they were also ruthless in their assaults on the guards, putting them and bystanders in great fear. Mr King. the elderly man who bravely intervened with his walking stick in the Bath incident was viciously pushed to the ground by one of the attackers, thankfully sustaining only minor head injuries.
“However thanks to the co-operation of G4S, forces in Avon & Somerset, Hampshire, Gloucestershire and Thames Valley and elsewhere, and the NCA, we were able to bring the series to an abrupt halt without any other injury. This was an excellent example of police cross-border co-operation in very testing circumstances and we are grateful to all involved for their support.
“I would also like to give credit to the work of the Senior Investigating Officer and team for bringing these offenders to justice.”
