Victim speaks as 'ruthless' gang jailed (From Herald Series)

Victim speaks as 'ruthless' gang jailed

8:14pm Wednesday 6th August 2008

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A family raided by a violent gang told how they still felt like prisoners in their own home despite seeing the attackers jailed for a total of 49 years.

The 15-strong gang terrorised families and were behind a string of burglaries, cashpoint raids and metal thefts across Oxfordshire and neighbouring counties.

'In some cases the results of their gratuitous violence and threats inflicted on vulnerable people in their own homes has had an impact that the victims will never recover from'

Det Supt Mark Warwick

Today, the final member was jailed at Guildford Crown Court and the full reign of terror unveiled when reporting restrictions were lifted.

The gang committed 12 raids and attempted burglaries on country homes, amassing £23m of stolen antiques.

In November, five members took £100,000 worth of antiques from The Manor, in Stanton Harcourt.

Victim William Gascoigne, 42, described the terror of finding the ruthless masked raiders inside his home.

Mr Gascoigne, who lived at the mansion with his elderly mother, said the raid was "devastating".

He said: "Domestic burglary and the damage and destruction wrought on people's homes is without doubt the most heinous of crimes.

"Forgetting the value of what has been stolen or destroyed in the process of stealing, it is the human cost of misery and utter despair, caused by the devastation of people's property and houses, that is completely intolerable and unacceptable in a modern civilised society."

His 12-year-old daughter is terrified to go to bed and his grown-up children are fearful and worried, he added.

Mr Gascoigne said: "Due to the increased security and surveillance, we feel prisoners in our own home, living behind bars with the alarms constantly on.

"We feel unable to leave single members of the family alone in the house and are unable to get any babysitters to stay overnight.

"We have been utterly devastated by the loss of so many personal possessions precious to our family.

"The financial loss is almost completely irrelevant when compared to items stolen that are totally irreplacable."

In February, five members of the gang, who were based at a travellers' camp at Evesham, were sentenced at Reading Crown Court for the burglaries.

The court jailed Ricky Johnson, 54, for eight years, his son Richard Chad Johnson, 33, for 11, his second son Albie Johnson, 25, for nine, Michael Nicholls, 29, for ten, and Danny O'Loughlin, 32, for 11. O'Loughlin was also given 66 months at Guildford Crown Court today for a cash machine raid.

Two further gang members, Lee William McCarthy, 25, and Anthony Smith, 26, both admitted handling stolen goods in connection with a raid at The Co-op in Stanford in the Vale in 2006 when £54,430 was stolen. They got 30-month sentences.

Det Supt Mark Warwick said: "In some cases the results of their gratuitous violence and threats inflicted on vulnerable people in their own homes has had an impact that the victims will never recover from."

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