Three jailed over fatal bank raid

The three men were given jail terms after the fatal raid

Three men who carried out a raid in which an alleged accomplice was shot dead by police have been given jail terms of between 10 and 17 years.

David Jenkins, 61, of Kingsnorth, Kent, was convicted of taking part in last October's robbery at a previous hearing at Maidstone Crown Court.

Two other men admitted being involved in the raid on the Nationwide in New Romney, in which Robert Haines died.

The judge praised a police marksman for protecting the community.

Sentencing, he said: "Anyone faced with that situation must have courage of the highest order and I therefore am happy to commend the firearms officer."

The police marksman who shot Mr Haines was also involved in the death of Brazilian Jean Charles de Menezes.

You the robbers had enjoyed rich pickings. You came back for more Judge Philip Statman

Jenkins, of Pantheon Gardens, a former special constable and Securicor employee who was found guilty last month, was jailed for 10 years.

Jurors had cleared him of one count of possessing a firearm.

His son, Dean Jenkins, 40, a company director of Wilks Close, Rainham, Kent, who admitted being involved in the robbery, was jailed for 17 years.

Ben Grehan, a scaffolder from Vermont Road, Upper Norwood, south London, who also admitted involvement in the robbery, was given a 12-year term.

Dean Jenkins and Grehan also admitted being involved in other armed robberies - at least three of which allegedly involved Mr Haines - across Kent last year, targeting Securicor vans delivering cash to banks.

Robert Haines was shot at a building society in New Romney

The court heard they netted £339,710, and £187,920 respectively.

Jailing them, Judge Philip Statman, said: "Matters culminated in the New Romney robbery.

"Until that occasion you the robbers had enjoyed rich pickings.

"You came back for more. You were playing for high stakes and probably felt, after your earlier successes, a degree of invincibility."

The court was told that their alleged accomplice and ringleader, Mr Haines, was shot three times after stealing £105,000 from a Securicor guard.

Mr Haines, 41, was said to have fired at police with a sawn-off shotgun as he ran to a getaway car.

'Violent robberies'

After the hearing, Det Ch Insp Tim Smith said: "These incidents involved innocent people being threatened and in some cases violence was used against them, resulting in, without a doubt, them being in fear of their lives."

He said "dangerous men" had been taken off the streets of Kent.

And Det Ch Insp Steve Richardson, from the Metropolitan Police Flying Squad, said: "These three men played significant roles in a series of violent armed robberies, where guns where used to intimidate guards.

"The robbery of cash in transit is not a victimless crime, with the delivery guards often suffering physically and pyschologically."