The moped gang robbed security guards in Lewisham. Pic: Empress of Blandings
The final three members of a Lewisham based gang that used stolen mopeds to rob security guards across south London have been sentenced.
The gang who were described as a “prolific criminal group” pleaded guilty to a total of six robberies and three attempted robberies across Tower Hamlets and Lewisham. The two other members of the group were jailed last year.
Detective Sergeant Scott Chimes of the Metropolitan Police’s Flying Squad said: “These individuals had a significant impact on crime against cash in transit deliveries and their arrests and convictions bring an end to their offending.”
The spate of robberies began in Whitechapel in August last year when three men on mopeds tried to snatch a cash box from a security guard. One of the men, Joel Banks, was detained by members of the public and subsequently arrested. However, Ricky McDonald, 31, and Jamie Allen, 25, both of Lewisham, managed to flee the failed robbery.
The next crime came on November 7 last year when McDonald and Dominic Shields, 26, of Deptford, snatched two necklaces from the neck of a 55-year-old woman in Forest Hill.
Then on December 5, Allen and Patrick McNally, 25, from Canary Wharf, failed in another attempt to rob a security guard in Whitechapel. McNally was detained but Allen managed to escape again.
Dominic Shields, Jamie Allen and Rick McDonald were jailed for 26 years between them Pic: Met Police
The two detained members were sentenced last year, but it has taken nearly a year to identify, charge and convict the three remaining members of the moped gang.
Banks was jailed for four years and four months at Snaresbrook Crown Court on December 16, 2014, whereas McNally was sentenced to three years in prison at the Old Bailey the following day.
The sentencing for the remaining three members took place at Snaresbrook Crown Court last week.
McDonald was jailed for six years and two months after pleading guilty to five counts of robbery and one count of money laundering. Shields was also jailed for six years and two months for four counts of robbery, one count of attempted robbery and one count of money laundering. Allen was jailed for six years and six months for two counts of robbery and two counts of attempted robbery.
Chimes said: “The convictions send out a clear message to those committing this type of offence: the Flying Squad are determined to arrest and convict those involved.”
The gang members were identified and detained through the Flying Squad’s Operation Amurensis, launched in 2014 to combat the increasing cash in transit robberies on security guards.
