NOTHING has been the
same since the Three
Maids HillMob attempted
the then-biggest ever
cash robbery on a security
van near
Winchester in 1994.
The gang from Southampton
was snared by detectives
using a new technique -
mobile phone records.
The bungling robbers had
attempted to steal £11.4m
from the van they hijacked
on the A34.
Their crime had been as
audacious in its idea as
incompetent in its execution.
The oxyacetylene cutting equipment
they used to try to cut into the
armoured vehicle was designed for
underwater use. It was too powerful
and set fire to £1m in cash and the
gang was forced to flee empty-handed
- one on the back of a local teenager's
Suzuki 50cc moped.
But their biggest mistake, and one
that opened up a huge new field for
detectives, was that they used their
own mobile phones during the raid.
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The gang, travelling in several cars,
telephoned the van on a mobile phone
and told the crew that there was a
bomb underneath. The convoy of robbers
and the Securicor van then
snaked quietly to a country lane near
Crawley.
Hampshire police were able to link
several defendants to the crime. With
painstaking work the officers trawled
mobile phone records to see whomade
what call, when, and crucially, where.
They looked through thousands of
records and, with the help of phone
companies, were able to pinpoint the
calls.
Unknown to the criminals then, the
police were able to fix the time, length
and crucially the exact location of
every call made.
In the early 1990s mobile phones,
whilst not widespread, were becoming
relatively cheap and increasingly
common. But many criminals were
unaware they were inadvertently
leaving an incriminating trail.
The police were elated that the
mobile phone records had helped
secure the convictions. But one detective
told the Daily Echo at the time:
"We are worried this case will teach
lessons to lots of professional villains.
Particularly about mobile phones.
These were only part-timers."
Criminals now use pay-as-you-go'
phones, which, if they are disposed of,
are less likely to be traced.
Four members of the gang were
jailed for a total of 40 years. One was
later freed on appeal. Two others were
acquitted during the two-month trial.
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