Moment brave salon worker fights off moped hammer gang with SHOP SIGN as teen raider jailed for eight years – The Sun

DRAMATIC footage captures the moment a salon worker fought off a moped gang with a shop sign – as they tried to smash into a jewellery shop with sledgehammers.

The video was released as Calvin Brown, 19, was today jailed for eight years after he and three others rammed into the store.

They used sledgehammers to try and break the glass front of Colebys, in Basildon, Essex, until the owner of a neighbouring hairdressers threw their shop sign at them.

However, this did little to stop the attack on the store and one of the mopeds drove through the shop front.

A van driver trapped two of the mopeds by manoeuvring his van, despite them smashing his windscreen.

All four suspects then got on the remaining moped and fled the scene.

Police traced them to the area of The Swallows, where the gang's motorbiking clothes and the bike itself had been dumped.

TAGGED

Brown was arrested later the same day. He had been on bail at the time for other offences, with conditions that he wear an electronic tag, not leave his address from 7pm until 7am, and not enter the area within the M25 border.

The electric tag's monitoring system showed he had been out of his home between 10.33am and 11.45am on the day of the attempted raid and then left again at 12.35pm and he was arrested at 1pm.

Brown, of Billericay, Essex, admitted a charge of aggravated burglary at Basildon Youth Court on Wednesday 6 March.

Sentencing was adjourned until July 30 at Basildon Crown Court.

JAILED

Brown was also sentenced for five unrelated charges of robbery and one of theft. These all happened in London before January 31, 2018.

Investigating officer PC Johnda Hughes from Basildon LPT said: "This was a brazen attempt at stealing from a jewellery shop in broad daylight, when the shops were at their busiest and we received more than 20 calls to 999 at the time.

"Brown showed no regard for the danger his reckless actions posed to the public and was clearly prepared to use violence.

"Thankfully no-one was hurt and nothing was stolen."

This was a brazen attempt at stealing from a jewellery shop in broad daylight

The judge recommended that the salon worker and van driver each receive a High Sheriff Award.

The growth of moped crime – in which some criminals have stolen up to 30 phones in an hour – has exploded by 1,000 per cent across the UK in the past three years.

Police admit most of the crimes committed on motorbikes and mopeds are by thugs riding ones stolen from law-abiding Brits.

Victims are often targeted as they're coming out of tube stations and other transport hubs where they're more vulnerable to attacks.

Thieves snatch handbags, watches and other expensive items before making an easy getaway.

In February, The Sun Online lifted the lid on Biker Biker, a group of ordinary riders determined to cut down on motorbike crime.

The group of volunteers are one of a number of groups across the UK who have taken it upon themselves to fight the growing problem of two-wheeled crime.

Forces have previously unveiled other tactics to fight moped crime, like automatic tyre deflation devices and DNA tagging spray.

The spray marks the clothes, bikes and skin of riders with a uniquely-coded but invisible DNA that can later be used as forensic evidence linking suspects with specific crimes.

And the tactics appear to be working – while there were 19,455 offences of moped crime in London between January and October 2017, the same period has seen 12,419 offences in 2018 – a reduction of 44 per cent.

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