Shropshire armed robbery terror pair win cut in jail terms
Two members of an armed robbery gang, which stole more than £100,000 in a series of raids across Shropshire and the West Midlands, have had their jail terms cut on appeal.
Adrian John Durant and Craig Lee Perry, both from Wolverhampton, were jailed at Shrewsbury Crown Court in February, after admitting conspiracy to rob.
Durant was handed a 14-year jail time for plotting all 10 robberies, while Perry was locked up for 12 years for his part in seven of the raids.
But the pair today had their sentences reduced by judges sitting at London's Criminal Appeal Court, who said their original punishments were 'too long'.
The court heard the pair were key players in a gang which terrorised couriers for G4S as they delivered and collected cash at banks and fast-food restaurants across the West Midlands.
Between June 2013 and April last year, couriers were ambushed at locations including Telford, Shifnal, Wolverhampton, Cannock and Stafford as they went about their jobs.
Each time a robber, wearing a hood or a crash helmet and armed with a hammer and knife, would force the courier to drop the cash box on the ground, before escaping on a motorbike.
One unfortunate courier was held up twice by the gang and another sustained injuries after being struck with a hammer.
Durant, 31, of Emerson Road, Wolverhampton, was involved in planning all 10 raids and used a different mobile phone each time, in a bid to avoid detection.
He and his partner lived a lavish lifestyle on ill-gotten gains, splashing out on cars and cosmetic surgery.
Lawyers for Durant and Perry, 34, of Wentworth Road, Wolverhampton, argued their overall sentences were "over the top" and didn't take enough account of their admissions of guilt.
Allowing the appeals, Mr Justice King, sitting with Lord Justice Treacy and Judge David Aubrey QC, said the jail terms were "excessive" and reduced them.
Durant will now serve a 13-year term, while Perry's sentence was reduced to 10-and-a-half years.
