Kent man John Corley jailed for part in gold bullion robbery
A Kent
man has been jailed for his part in a plot to steal gold and silver
bullion worth £1 million.
A gang of seven men held up a lorry in Belgium last year, the
Old Bailey heard.
John Corley, 53, of Tankerton Road, Whitstable, was
jailed for six years after £1 million of gold and silve bullion was
stolen from a lorry in Belgium in October last year.
Judge Richard Hone said it was a "well organised and
sophisticated" conspiracy involving the use of lorry driver Brian
Mulcahay.
The British lorry was travelling through Belgium en route from
Switzerland to Birmingham.
Many of the defendants were said to be "expert criminals"
who had pleaded guilty to conspiracy to steal, with the exception
of Corley, who was found guilty.
The court was told Mulcahay was discovered by police locked in
his vehicle in Belgium on October 4 after ringing his employers to
say he had been robbed.
Nine days after the robbery, most of the bullion was discovered
in an apartment and a hotel room in Antwerp which had been rented
by Rose.
The robbers were captured within days and had been unaware that
they had been watched by police as they hatched their plot.
Also convicted were:
Mulcahay, 46, of Grosvenor Road, Westcliff-on-Sea - jailed for
three years and six months.
Stanley Rose, 75, of Iver, Pilgrims Hatch, Brentwood - jailed
for four years.
David Gale, 55, of Hansells Mead, Harlow, and Gary Cummings, 51,
of Anne Way, Ilford, all Essex, were each jailed for three
years.
A seventh man, Matthew Middleton, 42, of Crows Road, Epping,
Essex, also pleaded guilty and will be sentenced at a later
date.
David Chatwood, 58, of Sawyers Grove, Brentwood, was jailed for
four years for conspiracy to steal.
His step daughters, Sam and Billie Faiers of the the TV show The
Only Way Is Essex wrote to the judge in a bid to save
their stepfather from prison.
07/12/12
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