Jewel gang caught after getaway driver refuses to break speed limit

A getaway driver who refused to break the speed limit during a police chase led to a gang of jewel robbers being caught and sent to prison for a total of 20 years. Neil Murray, 34 was behind the wheel of a stolen high speed Alfa Romeo when the robbers fled with £60,000 worth of gems from the heist.

As they raced from Simon Pure Jewellery Design in the town centre at Guildford, Surrey, where they terrorised two women shop assistants, passers by noted down the number of the escape vehicle.

Police quickly picked up their trail and were pursued in squad cars with overhead support from the force helicopter.



But as the gang tried to escape, the driver Murray, from Tottenham, took his foot off the pedal every time they went through restricted areas. Within 30 minutes of fleeing the shop the three man gang was arrested and were on Saturday behind bars.

Murray and accomplice Bradley Jayes, 31, from Islington each got five years while Darren Tomlinson, also from Islington who pleaded guilty to another jewellery store robbery, one count of handling a stolen car and one count of conspiracy to burgle, was jailed for 10 years.

In mitigation at Guildford Crown Court, John Warrington, who was defending Murray, said: "The ordeal for the woman lasted less than a minute and far from a fast getaway the police noted that at times the car was going under the speed limit."