Moment ram raiders threaten terrified shop workers before fleeing wrong way down M6

A gang of men have been jailed after they left terror in their wake during a crime spree across the West Midlands. Multiple businesses were targeted by Mark Lake, Dean Isitt, Darren Fitzpatrick and Nicholas Collins with some of the locations left destroyed.

Many of the robberies took place during the coronavirus pandemic with the first taking place on January 6, 2020, just months before the first lockdown. The group drove to Stoke-on-Trent in a cloned car and stole two Audis before driving all three back to the West Midlands.

The following day, they used one of the Audis to raid a Subway branch on Parsonage Street, West Bromwich, where they stole a safe and ripped out the CCTV system. Hours later, they smashed a hole in the side of a garage on Penn Road in Wolverhampton, ransacking an office and stealing tools, before moving on to a money transfer shop on Tividale Road in Tipton, where they ripped open a roller shutter.

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They tried to remove a safe but were disturbed by officers and fled. Undeterred, the gang's spree carried on for months.

Timeline of crimes:

• January 19 - An armed robbery at a shop on Castle Road West, Oldbury. Two masked gang members wielding crowbars threatened terrified staff. Workers were forced to kneel while the gang smashed their way into a safe and made off with thousands of pounds.

• January 22 - A failed attempt to force open a cash machine at a shop on Washwood Heath Road, Birmingham, where they left tools behind after being chased by police.

• January 28 - A raid on a shop on Dibdale Road, Milking Ban, Dudley, where they used a ‘jaws of life’, normally used by firefighters, to break in. They blew up a cash machine using gas but failed to get to the money.

• January 30 - A burglary at Cannock Hospital, where they tried and failed to take money from a cash machine, before using their van to ram police officers as they escaped.

• February 1 - A ram raid at a shop on Lichfield Road, Walsall Wood, which destroyed the entire front of the store. The thieves had to abandon the cash machine when it got caught on the destroyed shutters as they tried to pull it through.

• March 6 - The group went on to strike at a shop on Warstones Lane, Wolverhampton, trying to drag a cash machine from the shop but failing when the straps snapped.

• April 25 - Police tried to stop a van carrying one of the gang, Mark Lake, but he performed a U-turn and drove the wrong way up the junction 7 slip road on the M6, before re-joining the motorway on the wrong side of the road. He drove for around half a mile at speed in the wrong direction on the hard shoulder. He abandoned the van and escaped on foot. When officers examined the van, they found scaffolding with straps had been welded onto the vehicle chassis to make it easier for the gang to rip out cash machines.

• June 4 - The masked gang stormed into a store on Turners Lane, Brierley Hill, where they ripped the panic alarms from staff and started removing the tills.

• June 7 - The group committed their final robbery at a store on Howley Grange Road, Halesowen. Masked and armed with hammers and crowbars, they ran into the shop, terrifying an elderly customer and threatening the staff, forcing them into the rear office. They smashed and took the tills and demanded access to the safe, but failed to get in.

Four days later on June 11, police spotted Mark Lake, Darren Fitzpatrick and Nicholas Collins travelling together in a red van bearing cloned number plates in the Oldbury area. Collins, who was driving the car, rammed officers to get away but officers were able to bring the pursuit to a safe end.

Officers tasered Collins as he tried to flee, while Lake was pinned by his hip in the damaged vehicle. Fitzpatrick was found in a rear partition of the van. Isitt was then arrested attempting to flee from his home address on Clyde Street, Old Hill. On Monday, July 1, the group were sentenced at Birmingham Crown Court.

Their sentences are as follows:

• Mark Lake, aged 43, of Westbourne Road, West Bromwich, was jailed for 18 years for conspiracy to commit robbery and conspiracy to burgle.

• Dean Isitt, aged 45, of Clyde Street, Cradley Heath, was jailed for 16 years for the same offences.

• Darren Fitzpatrick, aged 38, of Trafalgar Court, Tividale, was jailed for 13 years for the same offences.

• Nicholas Collins, aged 41, of Oldbury Road, West Bromwich, was jailed for six years and 20 months for conspiracy to burgle and driving offences.

• John Williamson, 42, of Queens Road, Smethwick, was given a 21-month jail sentence, suspended for two years for conspiracy to burgle.

DC John Marsh, of West Midlands Police Major Crime Unit, said: "This was a prolonged series of really serious offending, which saw innocent members of the public terrorised in their workplaces as this gang used force to steal from shops and businesses around the region.

"The CCTV released today shows just how ruthless and reckless they were. This was not a case with a lone piece of damning evidence, but rather the cumulative effect of many smaller pieces of evidence collected during a detailed investigation.

"We pulled together mobile phone evidence, along with details of vehicles movements and forensics from items left at the scene of the gang’s crimes to build a really compelling case."