A 'SMASH and grab' gang of five men has been jailed for a total of 30 years for conspiring to rob a London jewellers.
Thomas O’Connor, Gary O’Brien and Jamie Hull, of Southwark, and Michael Ogun, of Enfield – all aged between 21 and 23 – along with a 17 year-old-youth were sentenced in Woolwich Crown Court on Friday.
On the morning of October 9, 2014, four men on two black Vespas and a Honda motorcycle, pulled up outside Attenborough Jewellers on Bethnal Green Road in Tower Hamlets, East London.
Two of the men got off of the motorbike and began attacking the shop’s window with a sledgehammer.
A member of staff inside the jewellers activated the window shutter to prevent a robbery taking place.
But before the shutter had fully lowered one of the robbers managed to take £12,000 worth of Rolex watches and other jewellery from the hole they had created in the window.
The men rode away from the jewellers eventually discarding the motorbikes at Lygon House on Wellington Row where two cars were waiting.
Officers eventually pulled over a black Mitsubishi Trojan – owned by O’Brien – and arrested O’Brien, Ogun and the 17-year-old.
Inside the car, they discovered a rucksack with the stolen Rolex watch stands in it.
Thomas O'Connor (left) and Michael OgunA second rucksack - containing a motorcycle helmet, clothes belonging to one of the gang and stolen Rolex watch stands - was found by a member of the public who reported it to police in Southwark.
The rucksack had washed up on the banks of the River Thames near Rotherhithe Street, where a separate member of the public had reported hearing something being dumped in the river.
After analysing phone calls made to and from O’Brien, Ogun and the teenager, police were led to O’Connor and Hull.
O’Connor initially claimed he could not have been involved as he was at his probation office at the time of the robbery – but it later emerged he had made a call to Mr Ogun minutes after the incident using a phone in the office.
O’Brien, Ogun and the youth pleaded guilty to the charge of conspiracy to robbery on October 23 – while O’Connor and Hull protested their innocence.
Thomas O’Connor, 23 of Swan Lane, Southwark, received the lengthiest sentence of eight and a half years.
Gary O’Brien, 22 of Brunel Road, Southwark, received a four and a half year jail term.
Jamie Hull, 21 of Tranton Road, Southwark, and Michael Ogun, 22 of Poppy Drive, Enfield received sentences of eight years and seven years respectively.
The teenager was sentenced to three years at a youth detention centre.
