The identification of a violent gang of armed robbers began with a remarkable bit of detective work by Scotland Yard’s elite Flying Squad.
It led to the capture of 10 members of a highly organised gang who used guns, knives, hammers and crowbars to attack security guards refilling cash machines in London and elsewhere.
The investigation began as detectives picked over the few clues left by two robbers who pounced at midnight on guards entering a Nationwide bank in Tooting, south London, in June 2018.
The guards were carrying £120,000 to put into a cashpoint, the bank’s automated teller machine (ATM).
The robbers wore nondescript black clothes, body armour, masks and gloves. They left no DNA or fingerprints.
Internal CCTV cameras revealed no distinguishing features. CCTV outside the High Street bank showed nothing of the robbers at all, or any getaway vehicle.
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The side door
The front of the bank was hidden from cameras by the parked cash van. Also obscured was a door right beside the bank’s entrance. Puzzled detectives concluded the robbers must have arrived and departed on foot through that other door.
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The door led to a block of flats and, via a fire escape, to a supermarket car park and a network of side streets. CCTV cameras there picked up the two suspects walking at around the time of the robbery.
Another camera further away showed them arriving in a dark sport utility vehicle (SUV), but the picture quality was poor, the number plate was unreadable and the car’s make and model uncertain.
Detective Constable Stephen O’Connell said: “It looked like an Audi Q7 or similar type vehicle, but you can see it’s not an Audi from close inspection of the wing mirrors, the types of alloy wheels on it and the shape of the bonnet, badge and the grille.”
In a bid to identify the car, he asked for footage from all traffic cameras with automatic number plate recognition (ANPR) within a four-kilometre range of the bank.
DC O’Connell explains how the investigation progressed: “We’re confident that it’s a Skoda Kodiaq SUV, but we can’t read the number plate.
“The ANPR camera search reveals that there is a Skoda Kodiaq travelling in one of the side streets close to the bank minutes after the robbery.”
Image: Six members of the gang were jailed for more than 100 years
The Birmingham connection
The traffic camera showed a clear number plate which belonged to a Skoda Kodiaq advertised on the car sales website AutoTrader from a showroom in Birmingham.
DC O’Connell said: “I speak to the manager there, and he’s certain that his vehicle hasn’t been in London, it’s sitting in his dealership and is locked in. He’s got the keys at home.
“So the gang have obviously seen his advert in AutoTrader and they’ve copied the index plate and put it onto another Skoda Kodiaq.”
The reason the gang copied a genuine number plate from a registered blue Skoda Kodiaq, instead of say a white Ford Focus, was in case the car was stopped by police for any reason.
A check on the number plate would show police it belonged to a blue Skoda Kodiaq and that should be enough to allay any suspicion.
Of course, a more detailed check on the gang’s Skoda would reveal it had the wrong number plate, but that was a calculated risk.
The next thing the Flying Squad did was to trawl through local crime logs to find a Skoda Kodiaq that had been stolen. They planned to search back two months, but they quickly found one stolen in Wimbledon a fortnight before the robbery.
ANPR cameras showed the car being driven around for an hour after it was stolen, but then it disappeared.
The Prague connection
Police contacted Skoda headquarters, in the Czech capital Prague, where the company keeps a record of every car it manufactures.
Skoda gave detectives the unique code for the stolen car’s satellite navigation system. The code allows the satnav to work by connecting to telecommunications masts, rather like a mobile phone.
Detectives asked the satnav’s telecoms provider for the car’s data history.
The data wasn’t as precise as they hoped, but it showed the satnav was turned off somewhere in Wimbledon, not far from where the Skoda was stolen.
Image: A Nationwide bank in Tooting, south London, was targeted
Going underground
The squad flooded the area with undercover officers, but they couldn’t find the car parked on the street. Then they knocked on the door of the concierge at a new block of flats with a secure, shuttered underground car park.
In the car park was a blue Skoda Kodiaq, but it had a different number plate from the one on the Skoda used in the robbery. A check on the Vehicle Identity Number (VIN), or chassis number, inside the car showed it was the stolen Skoda they were looking for.
“So, we’re thinking, why have they changed the number plates on it again? They haven’t just abandoned this car. They’ve parked it up, they’ve re-plated it, they must be going to use it again.
“So rather than just seize it and take the opportunity to get DNA and fingerprints from it, we’ll leave it there and keep observations on it, and we’ll see who comes to it.” But they didn’t have to wait for that.
Not quite clever enough
When they checked the recent car park CCTV it showed a man drive in, park in resident’s bay 248, appear to change the Skoda’s number plates and then climb the stairs to the flats above.
A check with the block’s manager showed the resident with parking bay 148 was a man called David Tesfaalem in flat 30.
“We look at the name David Tesfaalem and, lo and behold, he has previous convictions for armed robbery,” said DC O’Connell.
The gang had been clever, but not quite clever enough.
A big surveillance operation on Tesfaalem eventually led the detectives to the other gang members and their wave of violent robberies was stopped.
CCTV and police bodycam footage allegedly showing three police officers being assaulted at Manchester Airport has been played to jurors.
Mohammed Fahir Amaaz, 20, and his brother, Muhammad Amaad, 26, are said to have struck out after police were called to the airport on 23 July last year, following Amaaz allegedly headbutting a customer at a Starbucks in Terminal 2.
Minutes later, three police officers approached the defendants at the paystation in the terminal’s car park.
A jury at Liverpool Crown Court today watched CCTV footage from opposite angles, which captured what the prosecution says was a “high level of violence” being used by the siblings.
The prosecution says Amaaz resisted as officers tried to move him to arrest him, and Amaad then intervened.
Junior counsel Adam Birkby suggested Amaaz threw 10 punches, including one to the face of PC Lydia Ward, which knocked her to the floor.
His brother Amaad is then said to have aimed six punches at firearms officer PC Zachary Marsden.
Amaaz also allegedly kicked PC Marsden and struck firearms officer PC Ellie Cook twice with his elbow.
He is said to have punched PC Marsden from behind and had a hold of him, before PC Cook discharged her Taser.
Image: Mohammed Fahir Amaaz (left) and Muhammed Amaad (right) arrive at the court with their lawyer. Pic: PA
The bodycam and CCTV footage, submitted as evidence by the prosecution, allegedly shows the officers’ arrival in the Terminal 2 car park and their attempts to arrest the siblings, as well as their exchanges with them.
PC Ward can be heard saying “Oi, you b*****d” in footage from her bodycam, the prosecution evidence appears to show.
She then appears to fall to the floor and screams.
PC Cook, who is pointing her Taser at one of the defendants, then allegedly says: “Stay on the floor, stay on the floor whatever you do.”
“Get back, get back,” PC Ward appears to say.
The bodycam footage, shown to the jury by the prosecution, shows PC Marsden, who is also pointing his Taser, appear to approach the defendant who is lying on the ground and kick out at him.
Mr Birkby said: “Mr Amaaz, while prone, lifts his head towards the officers. PC Marsden kicks Mr Amaaz around the head area.
“PC Marsden stamps his foot towards the crown of Mr Amaaz’s head area but doesn’t appear to connect with Mr Amaaz.”
Amaaz denies three counts of assault occasioning actual bodily harm to the three police officers and one count of assault to Abdulkareem Ismaeil, the customer at Starbucks.
Amaad denies one count of assault occasioning actual bodily harm to PC Marsden.
A paramedic who secretly gave a pregnant woman an abortion drug during sex has been jailed for more than 10 years.
Stephen Doohan, 33, was married when he met the woman on holiday in Spain in 2021 and began a long-distance relationship.
The High Court in Glasgow heard how the victim travelled to Edinburgh in March 2023 to visit Doohan after learning she was pregnant.
During consensual sex, Doohan twice secretly administered the tablets which led to the woman suffering a miscarriage.
In May, Doohan pleaded guilty to sexual assault and causing the woman to have an abortion. He returned to the dock on Monday where he was jailed for 10 years and six months.
Lord Colbeck said Doohan caused “long-term psychological injury” to his victim.
The judge said: “You put her through considerable pain over a number of days and left her facing a lifetime of pain and loss.”
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The court heard how the woman found tablets hidden under the mattress after she became suspicious over Doohan’s behaviour in bed.
Lord Colbeck said: “The complainer then carried out an internet search for abortion tablets and confronted you over your actions.”
After the woman fell ill, Doohan convinced her to lie to medics at the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh amid fears he would be arrested if she told the truth.
The victim later attended another hospital with her sister and was told she was having a miscarriage.
The Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service (COPFS) said Doohan sent the woman gifts including perfume, socks, facial cleansing oil, money to get her hair done and bought tickets for them to attend a football match.
The woman complained to the Scottish Ambulance Service in May 2023, sparking an investigation.
The court heard that on 14 March 2023, the day the woman told Doohan she was pregnant, the paramedic used a work intranet to search for abortion drugs.
Lord Colbeck said: “You planned out what you did to your victim using resources available to you as a paramedic.”
In addition to his prison sentence, Doohan was also added to the sex offenders’ register and banned from contacting his victim.
Fiona Kirkby, procurator fiscal for high court sexual offences, said: “Stephen Doohan’s calculated and heinous actions caused the loss of the victim’s pregnancy, robbing her of plans she had for the future.
“He has now been held accountable for this fundamental breach of trust.
“While offences like this are thankfully rare, I hope this prosecution sends a clear message to all those who seek to inflict sexual harm towards women.
“Our thoughts remain with the victim, who must be commended for reporting her experience and seeking justice.
“We recognise that reporting sexual offending can be difficult but would urge anyone affected to come forward and seek support when they feel ready to do so.”
The Scottish Ambulance Service branded it an “appalling case”.
A spokesperson added: “We recognise the courage it must have taken for the victim to come forward and speak out.
“As soon as we learned of these very serious allegations and charges, we immediately took action, providing ongoing support to her whilst liaising with Police Scotland throughout the investigation.
“We know nothing will change what has happened to the victim and all we can hope is this sentence provides some comfort to them.”
UK farmers have “nothing more to give” as they fear the government will use agriculture to further reduce US tariffs in a trade deal with the White House.
The UK is trying to reduce steel tariffs to zero, from a current reduced rate of 25%, but Downing Street refused to confirm if it was confident ahead of Donald Trump’s deadline of 9 July.
Tom Bradshaw, president of the National Farmers’ Union (NFU), said UK agriculture had already been used to reduce Trump-imposed tariffs on cars but any other concessions would have serious repercussions for farmers, food security and the UK’s high animal welfare standards.
He told Sky News: “It just feels like we, as the agricultural sector, had to shoulder the responsibility to reduce the tariffs on cars from 25%.
“We can’t do it anymore, we have nothing more to give.
“It’s clear the steel quotas and tariffs aren’t sorted yet, so we just want to be very clear with the government: if they’re sitting around the negotiating table – which we understand they are – they can’t expect agriculture to give any more.”
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Image: Tom Bradshaw, the head of the NFU, said farmers cannot give any more
‘Massively undermine our standards’
Since 30 June, the US has been able to import 13,000 tonnes of hormone-free British beef without tariffs under a deal made earlier this year, which farmers feel was to reduce the car import levy Mr Trump imposed.
The UK was also given tariff-free access to 1.4bn litres of US ethanol, which farmers say will put the UK’s bioethanol and associated sectors under pressure.
Allowing lower US food standards would “massively undermine our standards” and would mean fewer sales to the European Union where food standards are also high, Mr Bradshaw said.
It would leave British farmers competing on a playing field that is “anything but fair”, he said, because US food can be produced – and sold – much cheaper due to low welfare which could see a big reduction in investment in UK farms, food security and the environment.
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Can the UK avoid steel tariffs?
‘The US will push hard for more access’
He said the US narrative has always suggested they want access to British agriculture products “as a start and they’ll negotiate for more”.
“The narrative from the White House on 8 May, when a US-UK trade deal was announced, was all about further access to our agriculture products – it was very different to what our government was saying,” he added.
“So far, the UK has stood firm and upheld our higher welfare standards, but the US will push very hard to have further access.
“No country in the world has proved they can reduce the 10% tariffs further.”
Image: US poultry welfare is lower than the UK, with much more intensive farming that means the meat has to be washed with antimicrobials. Pic: AP
US ‘will target poultry and pork’
The Essex farmer said he expects the US to push “very hard” to get the UK to lower its standards on poultry and pork, specifically.
US poultry is often washed with antimicrobials, including chlorine, in an attempt to wash off high levels of bacteria caused by poor hygiene, antibiotic use and low animal welfare conditions not allowed in UK farming.
US pig rearing methods are also quite different, with intensive farming and the use of feed additive ractopamine legal, with both banned in the UK.
A government spokesperson told Sky News: “We regularly speak to businesses across the UK to understand the impact of tariffs and will only ever act in the national interest.
“Our Plan for Change has delivered a deal which will open up exclusive access for UK beef farmers to the US market for the first time ever and all agricultural imports coming to the UK will have to meet our high SPS (sanitary and phytosanitary) standards.”