Four people in court over Chandler's Ford armed robbery (From Hampshire Chronicle)

Four people in court over Chandler's Ford armed robbery

9:38am Friday 14th September 2012 in Eastleigh By Sian davies

THREE men and a woman have appeared in court charged in connection with a string of robberies at banks across the south, including one in Chandler’s Ford.

A gang staged a hold up of a G4 security van as it pulled up outside an HSBC branch in Winchester Road last November.

Thousands of pounds was thought to have been stolen during the raid where a cash box was handed over by a courier who was delivering money to the branch.

The car thought to have been used by the gang was found dumped less than half a mile away in Shaftesbury Avenue.

Following the incident, officers from Hampshire worked with a national unit that investigates organised crime groups, after other similar robberies were reported in Gloucester, Berkshire and Somerset.

Four people were subsequently charged with four robberies and two attempted robberies and appeared before Basingstoke magistrates.

Leroy Hall, 35, from Streatham, London and Leon McKenzie, 32, from Orpington, Kent, were remanded in custody and Clifford Griffiths, 35, from Mitcham, London, and Jacqueline Smith, 34, of Mitcham, London, were released on bail.

They will all appear at Winchester Crown Court later in the month.

The hold-up of the transit van in Chandlers Ford was the second time the branch had been targeted. In a completely unconnected raid two armed robbers were shot dead by Metropolitan Police marksmen in September 2007.