Within seconds, the robbers pounced. One, concealing his face with a black scarf, hammered on the window of the post office van before forcing his way inside. At gun point, the driver was forced into a deserted car park at the rear of Pear Tree church hall, Southampton, followed by another vehicle, driven by a robber brandishing a silver-coloured handgun. There, it was met by a third gang member.
Scared for their lives, the delivery men stood helpless as the ruthless thieves grabbed nine orange-coloured bags before speeding off in a blue Datsun Stanza car. The delivery men immediately activated the van’s security alarm and neighbours alerted the police. Road blocks were set up in the area and major check points were manned by the police on the county’s borders for the getaway vehicle, later found dumped in Garfield Road, Bitterne, less than a mile away.
“We know the attackers drove off in a car with the registration number A629 ATR” said a police spokesman, urging the public’s assistance. “We also want to know if this car was seen near the post office. Obviously these men are armed and anyone who sees them not are urged not to approach the gang as they are dangerous but to contact us.”
The cops and robbers drama that hogged the headlines of the Echo on May 29, 1986, was witnessed by two young children staying at their grandmother’s home in Mortimer Road which overlooked the church hall. As they finished their breakfast, they saw the robbers emptying the van.
Peter Jerrim. (Image: Echo)
Ten-year-old Melanie Casson said: “Some men got out and then got into another car and it drove away very fast.” Her brother, six-year-old Martin watched the men take the bags and put them into the car. “I think they looked like money bags and there were a few of them.”
Their mother, Frances, who lived nearby Elstree Road, told an Echo reporter: “The first we knew there was something really wrong was when all the police arrived. We wouldn’t have noticed if it hadn’t been for Melanie being nosey!”
Local shopkeepers were amazed as details of the armed robbery unfolded. “We just couldn’t believe it when customers came in and said something had been going on,” said a staff member at Marc’s newsagents. “We didn’t see anything at all.”
Brian Millwood, working at an adjacent butchers, concurred: “The first we knew about it was when a detective came into the shop. We didn’t hear or see anything at the time. Everything seemed normal.”
Neither the police, nor the Post Office would verify how much had been stolen but was believed to be about £80,000, consisting mostly of £10 notes. “This money could easily have been carried away in a suitcase,” said Inspector John Phillips, leading the hunt. “It is not unusual for a professional gang to dump the getaway vehicle in a cul-de-sac as Garfield Road is. They would have sussed this out in advance, leaving several alternative routes of escape.”
Twelve days later, armed robbers struck again after holding up a post office van about to deliver cash to the sub-post office in Kendal Avenue, Millbrook. A hooded man pointed a sawn-off shotgun at a young postman, shouting: “Hey, you. Drop it or I’ll blow your bloody legs off.”
He instantly obeyed, dropping the bag, containing about £9,000. The bandit grabbed it and sprinted to a maroon Austin Princess car waiting in a nearby alleyway but the two robbers’ smooth getaway was foiled by the courageous intervention of Peter Jerrim, a director of the Esgro grocery group and also a sub-postmaster, who had driven into the alleyway moments beforehand and saw the masked gunman run towards the post office van.
Mr Jerrim, 32, told the Echo: “I realised immediately what was going on. I knew the Austin Princess would have to turn round in the car park at the back of the post office and drive out again for the getaway. I swung my Saab sideways across the alleyway and left it, completely blocking the exit. Then I ran into our shop, got someone to phone the police and waited.
“There were three almighty crashes as the Austin Princess rammed my car, to get it out of the way. The Princess then drove away but it was badly damaged.”
The vehicle – bought a few days earlier under a false name at Southampton car auction – broke down near the Lower Brownhill Road community centre and the robbers fled, one carrying the grey post office bag and the other a yellow plastic bag containing the shotgun, in the direction of the planets’ Estate network of roads in Lordshill, where it was believed a second car had been left.
Detectives conducting interviews (Image: Echo)
It was believed that master criminals were behind the raids, probably from the London underworld, as well as scores of other armed crime, netting millions of pounds in two years.
Shortly before Christmas1987, a gang carried out Salisbury’s biggest ever raid when they netted almost £250,000 from the city’s Fisherton Street sorting office while it was closed over the weekend.
Detectives believed the intruders must have been at the scene for several hours. After drilling through a wooden rear door, they used a diamond-tipped cutter to carve through a 14 inch thick brick wall, reinforced with steel bars, to gain entry into the strong room.
Loading the cash, all in £5, £10 and £20 notes, into sacks, they made their getaway in a transit-sized van, leaving behind considerable equipment as though they might have been disturbed or overheard.
Detective Chief Inspector Colin Hunt, head of Wiltshire CID, admitted the gang – believed to be four in number – knew what they were looking for and feared they might have acted on inside information to help with their detailed planning. Appealing for witnesses, he said: “They are obviously very competent and knew what they were doing.”
Astonishingly, the gang took time out to commit two other burglaries in the city for gear to carry out the raid. “It appears from our inquiries that during the course of the burglary, the robbers were unable to get some of the equipment to work properly. They went out and committed the burglary at Salisbury Hire.”