Rainham man among gang members jailed for cash in transit robberies
Michael Lewis has been jailed in connection with a series of cash in transit robberies - Credit: Archant
A gang of robbers who targeted cash-carrying vans were jailed for more than 20 years on Monday.
Michael Lewis, 30, of Upminster Road South, Rainham, was among the eight men sentenced at the Old Bailey.
Between February and June 2014, the group trawled the capital’s streets in stolen sports cars and motorbikes looking for victims.
The gang followed cash-in-transit guards as they made deliveries, attacking and robbing them when they saw an opportunity.
After stealing the cash boxes the men drove to quiet areas and used angle grinders and sledgehammers to open them.
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The group, which also included David Kelly, Alan Kelly, Daryl Salisbury, Sonny Colligan, Lee Smith, Charles Durkin and Lewis Sokhi stole more than £110,000 in total.
Detectives from the Met’s Flying Squad got a lead after an offence involving Durkin, a prisoner on day release.
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The Kelly brothers, Lewis and Salisbury were all jailed in January 2015 over a smash and grab at Louis Vuitton, Sloane Street, in June 2014.
They were later charged in relation to 13 cash-in-transit robberies. Detectives then arrested and charged Smith, Durkin and Colligan, and then finally Sokhi, who had been on the run for six months.
DC David Reed, the investigating officer for the Flying Squad, said: “This organised criminal group carried out a string of brazen robberies. In order to evade detection the group committed crimes outside of the London area as far as Bournemouth, using stolen cars and mopeds and constantly changing their mobile phones.”
