by Keith Hunt

A father and son from Sheerness were part of gang that stole thousands of pounds in raids on security guards at banks, a court heard.

Maidstone Crown Court was told Peter Clarkson, 56, his 34-year-old son Peter and others netted more than £90,000 from NatWest and HSBC in Sheerness and HSBC in Bexleyheath, LoydsTSB in Sidcup and LloydsTSB in Redhill, Surrey.

The court heard the robberies were all executed in seconds and were carried out in a similar way.

"It is a quick series of robberies in the sense when the delivery is made there is a quick pouncing," said prosecutor Deepak Kapur.

"There is a push or punching of the delivery man and money is stolen. It happened in the space of 15-30 seconds – as quick as that.

"The features of each one are so similar and the prosecution say it is the same team involved. The methodology is a BMW used as a getaway vehicle."

The first raid was at NatWest in Sheerness High Street on July 24, 2009, when almost £16,000 was stolen.

Courier Eamon Pritchard had made several trips into the bank to deal with large sums of cash when he was punched to the ground by a stocky man wearing a crash helmet.

The thief grabbed him around the neck before running off with the money. Another gang member had been standing nearby. Soon afterwards, a silver BMW sped off down the road.

The second robbery was on August 14 at HSBC, Broadway, Sheerness, when Bulgarian currency worth just £213 was snatched.

Again, the courier was punched and pushed by a "stout" man, who ran to a BMW.

The robbers stole £25,000 from HSBC in Bexleyheath on August 21 and the same amount from two LloydsTSB branches on September 2 and 8.

Mr Kapur said the father and son were arrested after the Sheerness raids and they then "took a back seat approach" and recruited others to commit the remaining three.

Harriboy Disson, 18, of Kensington, west London, has admitted being involved in the last three robberies.

Clarkson senior, of Hartlip Close, Sheerness, and his son, of Mills Close, Minster, deny conspiracy to rob.

The trial continues.