Grabbed by the Long Arm of the Law !

Robbers who wrought havoc across north Hampshire for over a year have been locked up following a long-running police investigation.

Their crime spree ran from June 2010 to July last year when they committed more than 30 offences, including car thefts, shop burglaries and burglaries.

Winchester Crown Court heard on Friday that the five-member gang netted £382,500 in stolen cash, cigarettes, and cars. They also caused £56,000 worth of criminal damage.

Steven Dossett, 27, of Cotswold Close, Buckskin, Richard Ashman, 25, of Poppy Field, Lychpitt, and Mark Bicknell, 28, of Martin Close, Oakridge, were sentenced alongside Daniel Malcolm, 33, who is currently in Dorchester Prison, and Michael O’Leary, 24, who is serving a sentence in Bullingdon Prison.

Prosecuting counsel James Newton-Price told the court that the gang broke into homes and stole car keys and then used the stolen motors to raid newsagents across north Hampshire.

The raiders were eventually  snared by Basingstoke detectives.

After the sentencing, Detective Chief Inspector Tim Rowlandson said: “This was a group of criminals who thought they were above the law. They invaded people’s homes with no regard for the devastating effects of their actions on their victims.

On top of that, they ruthlessly raided small businesses, robbing them of their livelihoods and making survival in these tough economic times even more difficult.

Bicknell, Ashman, Malcolm, and O’Leary were revealed as the masterminds behind the majority of the crimes, which included a series of break-ins at Basingstoke newsagents last year.

The court heard the gang committed burglaries at Martin’s Newsagents in Chineham on June 5, One Stop in Madeira Close on June 20, and the Co-op in Buckskin on June 20.

In the June 5 raid, they rammed the shop’s front doors with a  red Suzuki Alto and stole thousands of pounds worth of cigarettes. They later torched the car in woodlands at the end of Priestly Road, near Basingstoke and North Hants Hospital.

The fifth gang member, Dossett, was implicated in eight crimes committed in July 2011.

Judge Keith Cutler handed out  prison sentences to all the gang members.

Bicknell was jailed for eight years, O’Leary for three years, Malcolm for three years, Ashman for five years and three months and Dossett was sent down for three years and seven months. All entered guilty pleas.