Jewel gang foiled as shoppers take getaway car keys

Robbers who stole diamonds valued at £217,000 from a jeweller's shop were foiled by shoppers who removed the keys from their getaway car.

When the three men, clad in balaclavas and armed with sledgehammers, emerged from the shop, one shouted: "Someone's nicked the keys to our ride – run for it!"

With their escape plans undermined, Jamie Evans, 34, Aaron Stilwell, 26, and Stephen Lidell, 23, were caught by police.

They were jailed after admitting the robbery in Lewes, East Sussex.

Alan Gardner, prosecuting, said: "Members of the public quickly realised the stolen blue Peugeot outside the shop, which had its engine running, was the robbers' getaway car, so one man simply turned off the engine and removed the keys. Other passers-by grabbed traffic cones and road signs and piled them around the car to prevent any escape, in case the men had a spare set of keys."

The gang fled to a second car nearly half a mile away on the outskirts of the town centre. However, the delay enabled the police to send six cars in pursuit and the robbers were caught after their vehicle was forced into a hedge.