BURKA BANDITS
Gem raiders get 130yrs jail
ROBBERS who wore burkas to carry out at least 10 armed raids have been caged for more than 130 years.
They dressed as Asian women to steal £206,000 of jewellery and £76,000 from an Aldi supermarket during their year-long campaign.
The gang of 10 wore burkas as they robbed jewellers with sledgehammers and attacked an innocent bystander with a machete as he tried to stop them.
In the Aldi raid in Bolton, on June 29, 2015, shopper Mark ® Cooper tripped one of the gang as he fled the scene. But two robbers slashed him across the shin with a machete.
A judge ordered Mr Cooper should receive a reward for his efforts to stop the raiders.
Greater Manchester Police intercepted members of the gang as they were about to carry out another robbery last June.
Others were arrested as they drove away from a robbery.
Gang leaders Christopher Ryder, 30, of Timperley, and Michael Gabriel, 30, of Wythenshawe, were jailed for 22 years and 21 years respectively at Manchester Crown Court.
Nyron Brown, 29, of Manchester, got 16 years, Nicholas Fox, 27, also of Manchester, got 18 years and Caine Williams, 26, of Sale, received 10 years.
Sentenced at an earlier hearing were Christian Edwards, 31, of Manchester, who got 12 years, Paul Smith, 29, of Ashton-underLyne, who got 10, and Gary Sullivan, 29, of Northern Moor, and Sean Heyes, 26, of Denton, who each got five years.
A 33-year-old man, who cannot be named for legal reasons, got 12 years and eight months.