A moped gang which terrorised its victims with weapons including axes, samurai swords, and so-called “zombie knives” in London has been convicted.
The gang members were described as “big operators in north and central London” by police after being netted by the famous Flying Squad and police assigned to Operation Vocare, according to an official statement.
The gangsters had robbed a number of mobile phone stores and carried out a series of street robberies, but their most audacious crime was an attempted ram raid on a jewellery shop in a stolen Land Rover Discovery.
Unable to break through the shop’s doors in the vehicle, they got out and attempted to break them down with sledgehammers — stabbing a 48-year-old man who attempted to intervene in the back and hacking him in the knee with an axe.
A report on the Metropolitan Police website lists some of the convictions connected to the gang as follows:
Miguel St Martin, 21, of Argyle Square, Kings Cross, convicted of conspiracy to commit robbery and conspiracy to commit aggravated burglary
Alfie Warry, 21, of Baldwin Gardens, Camden, convicted of conspiracy to commit aggravated burglary
Harry Doyle, 18, of Radnor Street, Islington, convicted of grievous bodily harm, conspiracy to commit robbery
Reece Salmon, 20, of City Road, Islington, convicted of conspiracy to commit robbery
Henry Histon, 18, of Gilbert Place, Camden, convicted of conspiracy to commit aggravated burglary, conspiracy to commit robbery
A 17-year-old convicted of conspiracy to commit aggravated burglary, conspiracy to commit robbery
A 17-year-old convicted of conspiracy to commit aggravated burglary, and conspiracy to commit robbery
A 16-year-old convicted of conspiracy to commit robbery, conspiracy to commit robbery
Detective Constable Phelim Redmond of the Flying Squad described the failed ram raid as “brazen” and denounced the “cowardly, vicious attack on an unarmed member of the public who bravely intervened.”
The policeman noted that it was only “by sheer good fortune that having been set upon by four men wielding axes and swords that he did not sustain more serious injuries.”
The gangsters will be sentenced for their crimes together at a future date, which is yet to be specified.