Eight on trial for €78m heist from Bank of England

A GANG of robbers staged a terrifying armed kidnap plot to pull off a £53 million (€78.7m) heist at a Bank of England cash store, the Old Bailey court heard yesterday.

Using theatrical disguises they carried out Britain’s biggest cash robbery at the Securitas depot in Tonbridge, Kent.

The depot manager Colin Dixon was held hostage at gunpoint by men posing as police — as were his wife and young child.

Roofer Lea Rusha is alleged to be “at the heart” of the conspiracy.

The 35-year-old, of Lambersart Close, Southborough, Kent, was linked to a lock-up garage near his home where £8.6m (€12.8m) was found.

Also charged are car salesman Stuart Royle, aged 48, of Allen Street, Maidstone, and John Fowler, aged 58, a former business partner of Royle’s, said to have provided the lorry for the robbery.

Emir Hysenaj, 27, of New Road, Crowborough, East Sussex, is alleged to have been the gang’s “inside man”, making a covert video of the depot.

He was said to have been linked to them through fellow Albanian Jetmir Bucpapa, 26, of Hadlow Road, Tonbridge.

Garage owner Roger Coutts, 30, of The Green, Welling, Kent, allegedly had strong links to the discovery of £9.7m (€14.4m) at premises in the town.

Hairdresser Michelle Hogg, 32, of Brinklow Crescent, Woolwich, south east London, admitted applying prosthetic masks to four men. Signwriter Keith Borer, 53, of Maidstone, Kent, was said to have helped re-paint a van used in the kidnapping.

All except Borer are charged with conspiracy to rob, conspiracy to kidnap and conspiracy to possess firearms. They deny the charges.