'Dirty Dozen' robber jailed for posting guns to himself from America

A former member of a notorious armed robbery gang dubbed “the Dirty Dozen” has been sent back to jail for posting guns to himself from America.

Jason Nicholas, 45, was part of a crew of gun-toting raiders who terrorised staff in banks and post offices across London and the South-East in the Nineties, stealing millions of pounds in up to 200 robberies.

When the Met’s Flying Squad finally caught them in 1994, the ringleaders were jailed for life and Nicholas was sentenced to 13 years.

He is now back behind bars after the discovery of his plot to smuggle guns and ammunition into the UK disguised as “antique metal”.

Using a false identity, he posted a semi-automatic Ruger gun and Taurus pistol to an address in Bayswater, splitting them into four parcels in February 2015.

He had travelled to Dallas to post them but a Border Force officer spotted 50 bullets in one package as it was X-rayed in the UK.

Judge Wendy Joseph jailed him for 12 years at the Old Bailey and said: “The guns were known to be destined ultimately for illegal use involving the endangering of life.”

Nicholas, from Pinner, had denied fraudulent importation but was found guilty.