19 September 2006

A gang of travellers who embarked on a year-long armed robbery spree across East Anglia were snared following one of the largest cross-border police operations the region has seen. The seven-strong group terrorised shopkeepers and postmasters across Norfolk, Suffolk, Cambridgeshire and Essex as they stole property and caused damage totalling £1m. The balaclava-clad raiders armed themselves with sawn-off shotguns, baseball bats, pick axes and sledgehammers as they toured the region netting huge sums of money, including about £30,000 from a Post Office in Fakenham.

Rocky Buckle was the last gang member to be convicted of conspiring to commit robbery after a two-week trial.

They also stole 4x4s and smashed them into shops before making off with freestanding cashpoint machines. In total the gang was linked to up to 60 robberies, ram raids and break-ins, netting £500,000 in cash.

Their trail of misery led to a massive joint police operation, which culminated on Tuesday at Ipswich Crown Court when the last gang member was convicted of conspiring to commit robbery after a two-week trial.

Rocky Buckle, of Meadow Road, Willingham, Cambridge, was remanded in custody until he is sentenced with the six other travellers, who had already admitted their part in the raids, which took place between 2004 and 2005.

After the case, the police and Crown Prosecution Service saluted the close co-operation between the region's forces, which joined together under the banner of Operation Arctic to hunt the gang down.

Following months of intense investigations more than 500 officers were involved in raids on travellers' sites in Wisbech, Willingham and Mildenhall in September 2005.

Detective Inspector Graham Moss, of Suffolk police, said: “It is certainly the biggest police operation I've ever been involved in. When we started to work together the pieces of the jigsaw started to come together.”

He described the gang as “very violent and determined” and said the raids had had a tremendous impact on people caught up in them. It had led to some shop owners closing their premises and moving away because they had been so frightened by what had happened. Peter Gair, Crown Prosecutor in the case, said: “This gang preyed on the public, making money through stealing and often using violence and weapons, including firearms, to achieve their purpose.

Clockwise from top left: Barry Street, John Curtis, John Smith, Rocky Curtis, Thomas Curtis and Stacy Smith all pleaded guilty.

“This was a large scale operation and it is through the strength of joint policing and collaborative work with the CPS that these results have been possible.

“Through the combined efforts of the CPS and the financial investigation unit, we have ensured that these individuals do not profit from their crimes.

“By separate court action we have frozen certain assets and we are applying for a confiscation order under the Proceeds of Crime Act.”

Operation Arctic was launched in January 2005 to investigate armed robberies in Norfolk, Suffolk, Cambridgeshire and Essex and over a 19-month period its 28-strong team investigated 270 crimes.

Buckley had admitted taking part in a series of burglaries and ram raids, but claimed that he had refused to take part in armed raids because the stakes were too high. However, the jury took less than two hours to find him guilty of conspiring to commit armed robbery.

John Farmer, prosecuting at Ipswich Crown Court, described the raids which sometimes happened at the rate of two or three a day, as “serious, professional, organised crime”.

The members of the gang will appear for sentence at Ipswich Crown Court at a later date.

Reproduced with the kind permission of EDP24 News and Mr.Alasdair McGregor.