Watch: Gang of raiders jailed after spree targeting shops and businesses

West Midlands Police have released a video showing the moments they tackled four members of a violent crime group that took part in an organised crime spree of robberies and ram raids.

Shops were destroyed and residents terrorised in ram raid attacks as the gang struck during the first half of 2020.

The spree began on January 6, 2020, when 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, the group 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 systems.

Hours later, the group smashed a hole into 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 Tivdale Road, Tipton, where they ripped open a roller shutter.

They tried to remove a safe from the shop but were disturbed by officers and fled.

The gang's spree continued for months and included an armed robbery at a shop on Castle Road, Oldbury on January 19, a failed attempt to force open a cash machine at a shop on Washwood Heath Road on January 22, a raid on a shop on Dibdale Road, Milking Ban, Dudley, on January 28, a burglary at Cannock Hospital on January 30, and a ram-raid at a shop on Lichfield Road, Walsall Wood on February 1.

The crime spree lasted until June 7, when the group committed their final robbery at a store on Howley Grange Road, Halesowen where they donned masks and wielded weapons before terrifying an elderly shopper, threatened staff and took money from the tills.

The group were finally caught when officers swooped on the group's van four days after the last robbery, where three of the men, Mark Lake, Darren Fitzpatrick and Nicholas Collins, were finally caught.

A fourth man, Dean Isitt, was also arrested as he attempted to flee from his home address on Clyde Street, Old Hill.

All four men, as well as another man, were sentenced at Birmingham Crown Court following a trial and a number of guilty pleas.

Lake, 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.

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

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

A fifth man, 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 the major crime unit at West Midlands Police, 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."