Gang are jailed for £200,000 bank robberies

Detectives believe the trio, who used methods which could have come straight from the film The Italian Job, may have been involved in many more raids netting them up to half a million pounds.

After a reconnaissance mission days before, they would don reflective jackets and strike at night, removing manhole covers outside their target and expertly cutting cables leading into the premises.

Outside alarms were cut by using a pair of stepladders and after breaking into the building the gang used oxygen cylinders and oxyacetylene cutting equipment to remove the backs of cash machines.

Three different getaway cars, walkie-talkie radios, computers, crowbars, torches and balaclavas were all later recovered by South Yorkshire Police who codenamed their investigation Operation Moonlight.

No forensic evidence was left at any of the crime scenes as the gang covered their tracks so well.

Sheffield Crown Court heard ringleader Gerrard Langton, 38, had even attempted to rob three banks while he was on holiday in Corfu using the same methods and cutting equipment.

Langton was jailed for eight-and-a-half years and his friends Gary Gill, 34, and Craig Brunie, 39, for six-and-a-half years each after they all admitted conspiracy to burgle.

Jailing them Judge John Swanson told them: "These were sophisticated, professional burglaries committed in order to achieve very substantial amounts of money."

The gang targeted Nationwide Building Society branches between February and May, 2009. They stole 50,000 at Rossington, Doncaster, netted 34,810 in Sutton Coldfield and were arrested following a botched raid in Northampton.

They each denied three earlier burglaries after 46,000 was stolen from the RBS in Matlock, Derbyshire, another 64,000 went from the NatWest in Stocksbridge, Sheffield, and an attempt was made to rob the Yorkshire Bank in Chapeltown, Sheffield.

All three of those charges were ordered to lie on file.

Police became involved after they noticed several commercial burglaries in South Yorkshire and the Midlands bore the same hallmarks.

The court heard Brunie, a former heroin addict who has convictions for burglary, was now addicted to gambling and Gill, who also has a conviction for burglary, was in debt after a finance company folded.

Judge Swanson said the offences were carried out in a similar manner and were sophisticated.

He said: "Considerable skill was used to disarm the security systems very often by opening manholes in the street and severing cables leading into the relevant premises.

"This demonstrated considerable knowledge of electricity cables and security systems in general."

Afterwards Det Insp Richard Shimwell said: "They used military-style precision. They were pure bank robbers using old-fashioned methods. We suspect they were involved in many more raids as our inquiries only went back 12 months.

"We just knew when this gang had struck."