Barclays £1.25m Cyber Heist Leader Jailed

The leader of a cyber gang which stole £1.25m from British banks has been jailed for five and a half years at Southwark Crown Court.

Tony Colston-Hayter's gang used a "Trojan horse" device to hijack computers at Barclays and Santander branches.

The heists saw cash secretly siphoned off from the banks.

The gang stole credit and bank card details from around one million intercepted letters.

Their victims also included London Metropolitan University and the University of Portsmouth.

Colston-Hayter, 48, the son of a university lecturer and solicitor, earlier pleaded guilty to masterminding the fraud.

Other members of the group have also been sentenced to substantial prison terms.

The court heard the case concerned a "sophisticated and organised" attack on the banking system in 2012 and 2013.

Jurors heard the gang used a device known as a keyboard video mouse (KVM) switch to access and control Barclays and Santander bank accounts remotely on three occasions.

Money taken by the gang was used to buy £30,000 Rolex watches and more than £1m of designer jewellery.

Judge Juliet May QC told Colston-Hayter: "There is no doubt in my mind that you played a key operational role in taking forward and implementing these plans."