TWO men who conspired to carry out a "terrifying" robbery at a Beverley jewellers have been handed lengthy jail sentences. Kevin Smith, 23, and Jack O'Neil, 19, admitted conspiracy to robbery at the Guest and Philips Jewellers in Saturday Market at an earlier hearing.
Scroll down for CCTV video of the raid in progress.Smith, of Swallownest, Rotherham, has been jailed for 12 years six months, including five years for conspiracy to burgle ten businesses across South Yorkshire.
O'Neil, of Old Run Road, Leeds, was jailed for nine years.
Detective Sergeant Mike Gotch, of Humberside Police, said: "It was a complex inquiry conducted by the major incident team that involved a large scale investigation of communications data resulting in arrests across three forces.
"Our investigation highlighted both Smith and O'Neil conducting a reconnaissance of the jewellers prior to the robbery.
"The sentences handed out should serve as a stark warning to the criminal fraternity that this sort of criminality will not be permitted and the police will always investigate these crimes effectively and robustly and, working with our partners in the criminal justice system, will ensure the offenders are brought to justice."
Jeweller Karen Guest said: "I'm pleased, it's a good result.
"It perhaps sends out a message that if they get caught they will get a big sentence but whether it stops the criminal element I don't know.
"This makes it a little bit safer.
"It's also nice to be able to draw a line under this. We can move forward now and try and forget about it."
CCTV footage of the robbery was shown to Sheffield Crown Court of the moment two masked men, wearing white overalls, burst into the shop holding a shotgun and an axe on August 8, last year.
They forced four female staff to lay on the floor while one pointed a shotgun at them and the other smashed a glass cabinet filled with Gucci and Cartier watches worth £200,000.
Smith and O'Neil entered guilty pleas to conspiracy to robbery, admitting they knew it was going ahead but that they were not the ones who carried out the attack.
Referring to CCTV footage, prosecutor Ian West described how Smith and O'Neil were seen in the shop in the weeks before the robbery. Smith was looking at the glass display cabinet for the watches.
Referring to CCTV stills of the robbery Mr West said: "You can see them coming into the heart of Beverley.
"You can see a female looking over her shoulder and then someone busting the door to the store.
"You will see there are two people entering the premises.
"One has a sawn off shotgun, the other has a black bag and a small object with a sharp end. That is the man with an axe.
"Both men were wearing scene of crime officer suits for want of a better word, they were dressed in overalls, wearing balaclavas covering their faces."
Mr West said the picture at 9.28am painted a thousand words.
He said: "We have four people on the floor. We are not sure what's going on in the foreground but there is a man with a shotgun pointing it right in their direction.
"At 9.29am, you will see the man with the hatchet now smashing the glass cabinet with the watches. The man with the shotgun is stood back by the door.
"He was directing what the other robber was doing, telling him "go to that counter there, go to that counter there."
Mr West said this was the same counter one of the defendants was interested in looking at earlier.
He said: "The male with the shotgun told everyone to lie down on the floor and the other one smashed the glass cabinet.
"This was a very scary incident."
While the robbery was taking place, jeweller Philip Guest sneaked upstairs and shouted "help" out of the window to shoppers below.
A delivery driver heard a plea from a shopper and blocked off the getaway route with his vehicle.
The pair ran out of the shop to get into their silver car – which had been spotted at the scene of ten burglaries in South Yorkshire – but could not get through.
They went to the delivery driver's window, pointed the shotgun in his face and said: "Get out the f****** way".
Mr West said: "Imagine the terror, without anywhere to run or hide."
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