THE law has finally caught up with a “ruthless” robbery gang who terrorised security staff across four counties, netting more than £300,000.

Yesterday, four years after the string of daring raids began, Gary Donakey, 40, was locked up indefinitely while John Mulhall, 51, was jailed for 18 years.

Their co-defendant Daniel English, 44, was sent to prison for 12 years while the fourth gang member, James Harrison, 25, was jailed for eight years and eight months. They are all from Liverpool.

Donakey and Mulhall, who have already been jailed for robbery, had denied conspiring to rob the Nationwide in Christchurch on September 23 last year but they were convicted by Bournemouth Crown Court jurors.

Harrison and English admitted their part in the raid as well as conspiring to rob security staff at the Nationwide in Westbourne five days later.

The court heard how guard Roy Kimber had been targeted during both raids. As he was carrying £13,000 to load into the cash machine at Christchurch High Street a man wedged himself in the automatic doors.

A second robber threw a punch at guard Gordon Newsome and both were ordered to lie on the floor. Mr Kimber was threatened with a metal bar.

The masked raiders took the cash cassette and ran off but DNA recovered from a discarded balaclava matched Donakey.

Mr Kimber was taking a box of £20,000 into the Westbourne branch of the Nationwide when he was held up again on August 28. Both raids were caught on camera.

Donakey and Mulhall were also found guilty of possessing a Magnum revolver on September 24 when armed officers arrested them on the A34 near Highclere after using a stinger device.

The firearm had been flung from their Volkswagen Bora and inside the vehicle officers discovered the proceeds of the Christchurch raid, balaclavas, gloves and a cash cassette.

Mulhall admitted escaping from custody in December 2003 and was convicted of conspiring to rob Morrisons PCL of £120,000 in Ormskirk last August and a Pioneer store in Carmarthan in November 2006.

Donakey and English were found guilty of conspiring to steal a cash machine and its £74,000 contents in Ashton-in-Makerfield.

Defending Donakey, Frank Abbott said his client did not enjoy “any trappings of wealth” and was “tired of a life of crime.”

In Mulhall’s defence, David Gibson-Lee said: “He is getting a bit too old to commit armed robberies and has no money because all the proceeds were seized.”

The court heard how Harrison had penned a letter of apology to Mr Kimber and had no serious previous convictions.

In English’s defence, the court was told that he had entered early guilty pleas and the offences “totally out of character.” Only £13,000 of the stolen cash has been recovered.

Sentencing the gang, Judge Samuel Wiggs concluded that Donakey posed a significant public risk and recommended that he should not be considered for release by the parole board until he has served 11 years behind bars.

He banned Donakey, Mulhall and Harrison from entering Dorset for five years after their release, without giving police two days’ notice.

Judge Wiggs commended police officers from Dorset, Lancashire, Greater Manchester and Wales involved the lengthy investigation as well as CPS case worker Nick McGuire.