Machete-wielding moped gang jailed for armed robbery spree
A gang of armed robbers in the UK, whose yearlong crime spree came to a dramatic end in a stunning citizens arrest, have been jailed.
Alex Parle, 22, Thomas O'Connor, 23, and Conor Gartland, 18, were sentenced to a combined 30 years in prison in London this week.
Parle, whose citizens' arrest was caught on camera as he wielded a machete, was jailed for 10 years. O'Connor received a 12-and-a-half year sentence.
Gartland, who was under 18 the time of the $1 million crime spree, was jailed for eight years.
Over the course of a year, the raiders struck at seven stores in London and Manchester, making off with an estimated $1 million in cash, expensive watches and jewellery.
Disguised in helmets and gloves, they used concrete blocks and hammers to shatter window displays and glass cabinets and threaten staff with knives and machetes before making off on stolen Vespas or mopeds.
One of the robbers was caught when City workers and a plain-clothes police officer blocked his escape after a robbery which was captured on mobile phone footage by a passerby.
On January 22, Parle, Gartland and O'Connor snatched jewellery and Rolex watches from Carr Jewellers in London's Liverpool Street.
They had arrived on two mopeds and tried to smash into the window display with a concrete block. Two of them then entered the store with sledgehammers to break into two cabinets displaying Rolex, Piquet and Omega watches.
Parle, who is 6ft 7in, acted as the lookout but was unable to mount the back of one of the mopeds as they made their escape. The driver was heard to shout "Alex, get on!" in video.
A plain-clothes police officer tried to block their path by parking across the road, causing one of the bikes to swerve and preventing the taller robber from getting on the back.
He ran down the street after the mopeds but was tackled by the shop manager.
The robber then produced a large machete and swung it at people before running off. He was later arrested.
O'Connor and Parle, both of Surrey Quays southeast of London, and Gartland, of Bankside, southeast London, pleaded guilty at the Old Bailey to plotting to commit robbery between February 15 last year and January 23 this year.
Gartland and an unknown person were accused of trying to rob Akdeniz Jewellers, in southeast London, on February 16 last year at 1.35pm.
All three defendants then took $2595 from Bilex International in Peckham High Street on December 20 last year.
The same day, Parle and Gartland made off with $4966 from Unistream Money Transfer Shop in Stratford, east London.
Two days later, Parle, Gartland and O'Connor stole $60,204 from Kushiaria Money Exchange, in Tower Hamlets, east London. During the robbery one of the men used a 61cm long kitchen knife to threaten staff.
On January 13 this year, the gang wielded concrete and a sledgehammer to snatch $77,744 of jewellery and watches from a jeweller's in Kent.
Two days later, they took eight expensive watches during a raid on the Cheshire Watch Company in Manchester.
The Flying Squad, City of London police and Manchester police joined forces to catch the robbers.
