Faces of gang jailed for 'blood-chilling' raids

In one, they stormed into the Spar shop in Bayston Hill, Shrewsbury, kicking a staff member in the face.

Sentencing, Judge Fowler said the gang, Graham Aulton, Stewart Ferguson, Alan Britton and Craig Osmund-Smith, deliberately set out to frighten shop staff.

During their eight-week campaign of terror they raided seven convenience stores, with staff threatened, tied up and even beaten as the gang made off with a haul of cash, cigarettes and scratch cards worth £84,000.

But today Aulton, 33, of High Street, Wednesfield; Ferguson 35, of Talbot Lane, Bilston; Britton, 40, of Duke Street, Wolverhampton and Osmund-Smith, 41, of Valley Road, Dudley, were behind bars after being given hefty prison sentences.

The group planned and executed the string of raids on shops across Shropshire, the Black Country and Staffordshire during the summer.

Masked and bearing weapons, they sprang on vulnerable shop workers as they opened up during the early hours.

Each raid followed the same pattern, with cash registers and cigarette counters the prime target. The seven stores hit were Spar in Bayston Hill, Shrewsbury; Tesco Express in Codsall; Tesco Express in Willenhall Road, Wolverhampton; Spar in Wombourne; the Co-op in Penkridge; Sainsbury's Local in Gornal and One Stop in Ashmore Park, Wolverhampton.

Police arrested Osmund-Smith, Aulton and Ferguson on November 5 last year as the three men arrived at the Sainsbury's Local in Wordsley in a BMW at 5am.

Aulton, who was in the driver's seat, tried to speed off but crashed into an unmarked police car.

The first attack in Codsall on September 9 saw an axe and a wrench wielded with threats made to workers that they would be "cut up", Stafford Crown Court heard yesterday.

And the second raid at Tesco in Willenhall Road, Wolverhampton, saw two members of staff handcuffed to a metal rail as the robbers plundered the store.

But it was these handcuffs – which originally belonged to a custody officer – that would prove to be a vital clue for detectives in tracking down the gang. The handcuffs had been left in the boot of the prison worker's stolen orange Ford Focus, which was later used in some of the robberies.

While the car was never recovered, its alloy wheels and tyres were found in the downstairs toilet at the home of Aulton, who was described as taking on a "leading role" by Judge Michael Fowler.

In the Shrewsbury raid on October 16, a staff member was kicked in the face, while the robbery in Ashmore Park saw the manager's BMW stolen, which three of the gang were later arrested in.

The trauma of the robbery at Spar, Windmill Bank, Wombourne, resulted in one male staff member later having a heart attack. He is now recovering well.

Mobile phone records showed the group would exchange messages late at night and in the early hours before the raids, as well as shortly afterwards.

Aulton was jailed for eight years and nine months after admitting conspiracy to commit robbery alongside Britton who received seven years and seven months imprisonment and Osmund-Smith who was sent down for six years and nine months. Ferguson denied the charge but was found guilty yesterday by a jury. He was jailed for eight years and nine months.

Sentencing, Judge Fowler said: "It is a significant factor of the robberies that the robbers were masked, wearing dark clothing, balaclavas and gloves. Masks were often made with the legs of a pair of tights knotted and eye holes cut out. A scary prospect.

"On occasion weapons were taken and threats made that would have been blood-chilling."

He added: "There was total disregard for the feelings and wellbeing of those who were in the stores when the robberies took place, demonstrated graphically by CCTV.

"It takes little imagination to think of the kind of shock and fear there must have been when someone opens a back door of premises expecting to take in the papers and milk but to find it pushed open and confronted by masked, dark-clothed robbers."

Detective Superintendent Paul Clews said: "Whilst Staffordshire detectives have worked tirelessly to present an overwhelming case to the court, the support they received leading up to the arrests was an excellent reflection of the partnership between our forces, the Regional Organised Crime Unit and the newly formed National Crime Agency.

"Most importantly, I hope the result brings some form of relief to the victims of these shocking and terrifying crimes."