A GANG of robbers were jailed four years ago this week for stealing more than £70,000 from a cash van as it made a delivery in the county.

They were all implicated in the robbery which happened outside the Co-Op in Upper Hoswell Road, Malvern, in April 2015.

Three security staff were threatened by two masked thieves who wielded a pickaxe handle as they were filling up a cash machine. Just a few hours later, police stopped brothers Luke and Lewis O’Brien, Ryan Weir and Ryan Griffin in a car near junction 3a of the M42.

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In the footwell of the Seat Ibiza was a rucksack containing £74,460 along with a set of other vehicle keys and a copy of a webpage which contained details to a caravan park in Tewkesbury.

All four men were arrested and detectives headed to the caravan park. Once there, they found the keys from the men’s car opened both the caravan and the door to an LDV van which matched the description of the one used in the robbery − albeit with different number plates.

Inside the caravan were a sledgehammer and a pick axe handle, matching the weapons used.

Thomas Sidwell and Chad Pulisciano were arrested together on Stratford Road in Shirley, Birmingham, on April 29 after an officer recognised Pulisciano from CCTV taken from the campsite, which showed him driving the LDV van.

Phone records put Pulisciano in the Tewkesbury area and Sidwell in the Birmingham area at the time the robbery took place.

Detectives believed Pulisciano was one of the robbers and Sidwell went to the area to drive him back to Birmingham.

Luke and Lewis O’Brien, Griffin and Puliscano pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit robbery at Hereford Crown Court in December 2015. Sidwell and Weir admitted conspiracy to handle stolen goods.

Luke O’Brien, 28, of Vauxhall Crescent, Chelmsley Wood, Birmingham was later jailed for six years. Lewis O’Brien, 24, of Coventry Road, Hay Mills, Birmingham, was jailed for five-and-a-half years.

Griffin, 23, of Millview, Kitts Green, Birmingham, was jailed for five-and-a-half years. Pulisciano, 23, of Dickens Heath Road, Shirley, was jailed for five-and-a-half years.

Sidwell, 30, of Allenscroft Road, Kings Heath, Birmingham, was jailed for two years and eight months. Weir, 22, of Flaxley Road, Stechford, Birmingham, was jailed for two years, suspended for 24 months.

After the sentencing Detective Inspector Ben West, from West Midlands Police Force CID, said: "This is a great result and follows some brilliant detective work between West Mercia Police and ourselves.

"What we have here is a highly-organised yet cowardly group of greedy career criminals who rely on audacious heists to make their money.

"The number of offences of this nature is thankfully continuing to decrease but we are not complacent about crime of this type and we will always relentlessly pursue offenders."