Inquest into deaths of armed robbers in Chandler's Ford (From Hampshire Chronicle)

Inquest into deaths of armed robbers in Chandler's Ford

1:46pm Friday 30th September 2011 in Eastleigh By Andrew Napier

THE inquest is due to start on Monday of two armed robbers shot dead by police in Chandler’s Ford.

Mark Nunes, 35, and Andrew Markland, 36, were killed as they tried to rob a Group 4 armoured van in 2007.

The families of the two dead men are understood to be demanding answers as to why the men were not arrested instead of being shot.

A subsequent trial of gang members heard that Nunes, of New Park Road, Streatham, south London, was shot by armed Metropolitan police as he pointed a gun at security guard, Michael Player.

Nunes, the trial heard, was the leader of a group that had carried out some 20 carefully-planned raids on vans delivering money to banks in southern England over 18 months. The robberies are believed to have netted £500,000.

The police were beginning to close in on the gang. Nunes was followed by undercover officers as he travelled to Chandler’s Ford on several reconnaissance trips.

The robbers were under surveillance when they targeted the van outside the HSBC branch on September 13. Armed officers were under cover close to the bank in a parade of shops on Bournemouth Road.

Brendan Kelly, QC, prosecuting, said at the trial of accomplices in 2008: “Nunes was seen to run from the side of the bank with a pistol and he pointed that pistol at the head of the guard.

“As he did that, Nunes was shot and killed. Markland (of Morland Road, Brixton, south London) was with Nunes. He sought to pick the gun up. He too was shot dead.”

When the Beretta 9mm pistol used by Nunes was later recovered it was found to be fully loaded and ready to fire, the trial heard.

The hearing in Winchester before central Hampshire Coroner Grahame Short is to be held in the Hampshire County Council chamber in Castle Avenue and is due to last around six weeks.