Costa del Sol gangster is jailed for armed robberies
ANOTORIOUS gangster who spent years on the run on the Costa del Sol staged a string of gunpoint heists - including raids at two Rochdale banks within a few days of each other.
Lee Tansey, 40, from Salford, was part of a gang who disguised themselves as builders and committed a string of violent hold-ups.
The crime spree came days after he was released early from an 11-year sentence passed in 2011 for a series of bank raids.
They dated back to 2008 and 2009, but Tansey avoided justice for two years by vanishing to Spain.
He was eventually arrested at Malaga Airport and brought back.
Now, he has been caged again, along with Anthony Gough and Christopher Reuben, for his part in six robberies at banks and jewellers in the north of England.
The gang put meticulous planning into their crimes disguising themselves as builders in a white van so they could ‘hide in plain sight’ before and after the raids.
In one of the terrifying raids, gunmen pounced on two women as they arrived for work at Janet Isherwood Jewellers on Kay Street in Rawtenstall, Rossendale.
One of the women was grabbed by the throat and pushed up against a wall, after one of the robbers jumped over a side gate and threatened them with a handgun.
His accomplice, who was brandishing a sawn-off shotgun, joined in and the pair fled with more than £200,000, using a get-away Chrysler driven by a third man during the robbery on Monday, July 11, 2016.
The trio escaped dressed as builders in hi-vis jackets - and the getaway car was found burned out.
In another raid - on September 21, 2016 - the trio carried out a bank robbery in Horden, County Durham.
Two of the men, armed with a crowbar and sledgehammer, took thousands of pounds from a staff member while an ATM was being filled with cash.
The trio also carried out robberies in Prestwich, Rochdale and Blackburn.
They were ‘fuelled by greed’ and became ‘arrogant in the fact they were never going to be caught,’ police say.
Officers from GMP’s serious organised crime group carried out investigations into the robberies between July 2016 and January 2017, and found evidence linking the men to the raids.
They were arrested in January 2017, as they carried out final preparations for a robbery in New Mills, Derbyshire.
The men have now been jailed at Minshull Street Crown Court after pleading guilty to conspiracy to commit armed robbery and possession of firearms.
Tansey, of Innings Drive, Salford, Gough, 37 of Blackmoor Drive, Liverpool and Reuben, 32 of Wigan Road, Ashton-in-Makerfield, were all sentenced to 21 years in prison. Det Sgt Rick Castley, from GMP’s serious organised crime group, said: “These men conducted extensive recces on premises and victims, identifying lay-up points and escape routes prior to the robberies.
“They attempted to leave no forensic trace and avoid detection by switching vehicles, using numerous cloned registration plates, setting fire to vehicles following offences, using unregistered phones and wore construction-style clothes during the planning stage to hide in plain sight.
“Through covert surveillance, painstaking hours of telephony work and extensive vehicle enquiries, we managed to step in and stop them from not only hurting anyone else but also stealing more money.
“Whilst doing this we also got the crucial evidence needed to secure this conviction and that’s a testament to all specialist officers who worked on this investigation.
“Tansey, Gough and Reuben were clearly fuelled by greed and as they became more and more arrogant in the fact they were never going to be caught, we were building a strong evidential case against them. I welcome the sentences handed down.”