Voted Best
ISSUE NO. 1711
19 - 25 April 2018
Newspaper in Spain 2017 & 2018
COSTA BLANCA SOUTH
YOUR PAPER, YOUR VOICE, YOUR OPINION
Ram-raid rap Fugitive who fled to Spain caged The figurehead of a sophisticated crime outfit who went on the run to the Costa Blanca has been jailed for 10 and a half years. Convicted killer Richard ‘Ricky’ Smith, 37, and his crew - dubbed the ‘wham ram gang’ committed seven ‘terrifying’ armed raids on private security vans in the Manchester area over seven months. They used ‘innovative’ methods to make off with £275,000 (€318,000), prosecutors told Manchester Crown Court. Gang members Patrick McDonagh, 37, John Groom, 35, and David Dargan, 32, have also been convicted for the heists. The quartet used a ‘wham ram’ - a specially-designed battering tool - to break through the internal doors of G4S security vans in the first five raids. And the tactic was so unique it forced G4S chiefs to increase the strength of the doors, the court heard. They were snared in the wake of a probe after McDonagh was caught on a security camera with his balaclava up. After an unsuccessful holdup at a post office, police swooped on them at a pub car park near junction 4 of the M61. McDonagh was arrested while Smith, Groom, and Dargan fled towards the motorway slip road where they tried to car jack an elderly couple, punching the 64-year-old driver in the face before being cuffed. The court also heard how
Photo credit Greater Manchester Police
by Matt Ford
WHAM RAM THANK YOU MAM: A CCTV image from the post office raid (top) that led to the arrest (bottom) of Richard Smith (inset) and his gang. they took ‘meticulous’ steps to avoid being caught, including the use of multiple getaway cars, some of which were burned out after the robberies, while bleach was used to wipe away forensic evidence. Salford-born Smith was in 2010 held by Spanish police on suspicion of attempted robbery in Alicante. He was at the time wanted under a European Arrest Warrant after he was sprung from a prison van. The vehicle was attacked by men wielding crow-
bars as it drove him to Salford Magistrate’s Court to be quizzed in connection with the torching of a vehicle yard used by police, in what investigators said was a bid to destroy criminal evidence.
In 2001 Smith was caged for five and a half years for the manslaughter of ex-paratrooper Ben Kamanalagi, who was beaten to death outside a Manchester nightclub where he was working as a bouncer.
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