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Christmas Eve robbers sentenced

03/07/2006

A group of seven criminals whose multi-million pound heist was foiled on Christmas Eve last year have today been sentenced at Harrow crown court.

David Thomas, 37, and Lyndenn Willoughby, 36, will serve seven years in jail for conspiracy to rob the Comstor UK warehouse of around £4.5 million of IT equipment on December 24th.

The remaining five co-conspirators, Paul Lewis, 32, Atilla Kadir, 35, John Tripp, 22, Anthony Diop, 34, and Tyrone Brown, 25, all received four and a half years for "conspiracy to commit burglary".

The men, carrying coshes, ammonia, handcuffs and heavy duty tape, were arrested at the scene of the crime by officers from the Metropolitan police's Flying Squad who had received a tip-off about the planned operation.

"This was a classic Flying Squad operation, which shows our ability not only to combat robberies in the capital but also to work closely with other forces in order to prevent serious criminals targeting businesses in other parts of the country," said Detective Superintendent Barry Phillips, head of the Flying Squad.

David Thomas received an additional two and a half years for "perverting the course of justice" by repeatedly attempting to bribe an officer with £50,000 during the last week of 2005.

The officer, who cooperated with the Met's anti-corruption command throughout, met up with Thomas on a one-to-one basis when Thomas threatened that if the officer betrayed their negotiations he would "take it personally".

"This was a blatant and cynical attempt to undermine the criminal justice system and the seriousness of the offence is reflected in the sentence passed today," commented Detective Superintendent Gordon Briggs of the anti-corruption command.

"The Flying Squad officer exhibited integrity and courage in playing the role of a corruptible officer and ensuring that Thomas be additionally prosecuted for this crime."

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