Gang jailed for train 'steaming'

Four members of a “steaming gang” behind a “barbaric and inhumane” campaign of armed robberies on UK trains were jailed for up to nine years each today.

For months the “drunken and drugged” mob targeted “vulnerable” train passengers – the youngest a girl of 15 – and ordered them to hand over their valuables.

London’s Southwark Crown Court heard knives were produced or victims threatened with being “shanked” if they disobeyed. Mobile phones, jewellery, computers and bank cards worth thousands were stolen often to the accompaniment of “countdowns from five”.

One terrified commuter had a bottle held in front of him and warned: “I’m not joking. I swear to God I will smash your face in.” The gang was eventually identified from CCTV footage from carriages and train stations.

Among those before the court was gang leader Melvyn Gay, from Walthamstow, east London, who admitted what he had done was “barbaric and inhumane”.

The plumber pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to rob involving six attacks, as well as five substantive counts of robbery and attempted robbery, between March and November last year.

He was jailed for nine years and warned that because he posed such a danger to the public he would also be subject to a five-year licence extension after his release.

Passing sentence, Judge James Wadsworth said: “The use or threat of a knife now is far too common and is a dangerous menace.

“And when you were going out stoked up at times with drugs or alcohol your possession of a knife was a very nasty matter indeed.”

All posed a “significant risk of serious harm to others”, the judge said.