Moment bank robbers shot dead by police shown to jury

DRAMATIC footage of the exact moment police marksmen shot dead two members of a prolific bank-raid gang was shown to a jury yesterday.

Covert surveillance video showed Mark Nunes, 35, the mastermind behind a series of robberies, being shot as he held a gun to the head of a security guard outside an HSBC branch.

As his accomplice, Andrew Markland, 36, attempts to pick up the weapon, he, too, is gunned down; a third shot is heard as he lay on the ground.

The two deaths ended an 18-month crime spree in which the gang hit at least 18 security vans attempting to deliver money to outlets in the south of England.

At Kingston Crown Court in Surrey yesterday, evidence began in the trial of four men accused of being members of the gang. Terence Wallace, 26, Leroy Wilkinson, 29, Adrian Johnson, 28, and Victor Iniodu, 34, all from south-west London, are accused of conspiracy to robbery. They deny the charges. Johnson also denies possessing a prohibited weapon and stealing a cashbox containing £25,000.

Before the start of the trial on Tuesday, three men, Leroy Hall, Leon McKenzie and Brian Henry, pleaded guilty to being part of Nunes' gang.

The court had previously heard that Nunes's "luck ran out" on 13 September during a raid in Chandler's Ford, Hampshire, following a number of successful robberies by his gang.

Yesterday's evidence focused on that last failed raid.

The jury was shown surveillance footage taken by police from a vantage point opposite the targeted bank on that day.

As a Group 4 security van pulled up in a disabled parking space next to the bank, a guard exited the back of the vehicle.

At this point a man identified as Nunes is seen running towards him. As he does so, a police officer is heard saying: "Robbery, robbery, strike, strike, strike. He has a gun to his head."

The next thing heard is a shot, as Nunes slumps to the floor.

"One man down," an officer is heard saying into the radio.

Markland is then seen running into shot and attempts to pick up the weapon dropped by his accomplice. He, too, is shot and falls to the ground. A third shot is then heard on the video.

Following the shooting, a blue Volvo, alleged to have been driven by Wallace, speeds off.

The court was told that before the raid, a Land Rover – which was seen picking Nunes up from his home in London – passed the bank a number of times with its two occupants looking into the branch.

Detective Constable Philip Dalton, a flying squad officer on surveillance duty during the raid, said he believed the driver to be Wallace.

But the court heard that, on the day following the failed bank raid, DC Dalton failed to pick Wallace out in an ID parade.

Gerald Mohabir, defence counsel for Wallace, asked if this meant he could have been mistaken when he said the driver of the Land Rover had been his client. DC Dalton replied: "No, absolutely not."

The case continues.