Woman made £40k laundering armed robbery gang's cash
A woman who laundered money for a team of armed robbers that carried out a series of raids benefited by almost £40,000, a court heard.
Sally Hipkins, from Tipton, was the partner of one of the leaders of the gang which struck 10 times in a two-year crime spree.
Hipkins was made subject to a confiscation order under the Proceeds of Crime Act for £6,550 – money said to be available from the sale of a BMW car – at Shrewsbury Crown Court.
Judge Jim Tindal ordered that Hipkins, who did not attend the court hearing, must pay the money within 28 days or face three months in prison.
The court heard that following a financial investigation Hipkins' benefit from her criminal actions was said to be £38,895 and available funds involved her ownership of a BMW Sport car.
Last year 30-year-old Hipkins was given a two-year prison sentence, suspended for two years, and placed on supervision, after admitting using £15,500 in cash from the robberies.
Mr Daniel White, prosecuting at the latest hearing, said in October this year it was discovered Hipkins was not longer the owner of the car, which had a minimum value of £6,550, and which had been sold at auction.
Hipkins, of North Road, was the former partner of Aiden Durant, 31, of Emerson Road, The Scotlands, Wolverhampton, who admitted conspiracy to commit robbery and was jailed for 13 years.
He had been freed on licence from an previous sentence for robbery just two days before starting to plot the raids to ambush G4S couriers making cash deliveries and collections at banks and fast-food restaurants.
The gang snatched £100,000 in the 10 raids which included £25,000 from Barclays in Penkridge; another £25,000 from Barclays in Shifnal; £18,300 from McDonald's, Telford; £10,140 from Lammascote Service Station, Stafford; £23,000 from Barclay's Bank, Chase Terrace and £25,000 from Lloyds Bank, Lichfield Road, Stafford.
There was also a raid at Tesco Express, Kidderminster, but the amount taken was not revealed.
Two other members of the gang from Wolverhampton were also jailed – Craig Perry, 33, of Wentworth Road, Bushbury, who received 10 and a half years and Lee Tonks, 34, from Dryden Road, The Scotlands, who was jailed for 18 months.
On each occasion a robber armed with a hammer and knife – and wearing either a hood or full-face crash helmet – forced the courier to drop the cash box being carried when the daylight ambush occurred.
