The gun raider dressed as a fireman

The mastermind behind a gang who used the disguise of a firefighter to rob shopkeepers at gunpoint is facing years in jail.

Darren Lloyd, 35, led a team who targeted cash-in-transit deliveries in east London. He was arrested by armed officers last December as he scrambled from the wreckage of a Volvo getaway car, having crashed into a garden during a police chase.

The Old Bailey heard how Lloyd recruited London fireman Russell Williams, 39, to supply real uniforms to former police officer Gary Griffiths, who wore the kit.

Griffiths used the disguise as a ruse to gain access to safes and storerooms, and armed himself with a pistol to threaten shop staff.

The court heard how Griffiths, 42, was captured on camera in December last year in Premier Foods in Becontree Avenue, Dagenham.

Posing as a firefighter, he could be seen asking to be directed to a back room, where he brandished an imitation firearm and took £2,000. Shop assistant Sivavakeethar Sivakumaran said: "He asked if there was a fire alarm going on. I said everything was fine, but he said he had to check the sensors. He was in uniform and I didn't even think about it. Then he came to the office and pulled a gun on me and asked for the safe."

Griffiths was caught after a detective who used to play rugby with him for Bethnal Green police station recognised his broken nose on CCTV.
When Lloyd was detained after the crash two imitation handguns he had discarded were found nearby and a shop till was still inside the vehicle.

After a trial at the Old Bailey, Lloyd, of Dagenham, was convicted of 12 counts of conspiracy to rob between July and December last year, and four counts of having an imitation firearm with intent. The crimes were clustered around Dagenham and Chadwell Heath. Twelve raids were planned, netting at least £43,000.

Prosecutor Michael Shaw said: "They were a close-knit bunch and robbed locations close to where they lived, venues they knew how to get away from." Six others admitted involvement in the conspiracy: Griffiths and Peter Henderson, 29, of Dagenham; Joshua McEvilley, 29, and Jason Stacey, 38, of Romford; Ben Garforth, 30, of Chadwell Heath Lane; Frank Nesbitt, 30, of Plaistow.

Williams, of Cheshunt, admitted assisting an offender. All will be sentenced on a date to be fixed.