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Two men who carried out a string of dawn raids on newsagents in which terrified shop staff were bound with cable ties have today been jailed for a total of more than 23 years.
Balaclava-clad raiders Duncan Snape and Robert Powsey wielded axes, sledgehammers or baseball bats as they targeted eight shops in a 15-month spree.
More than £36,000 was stolen by the two men, who always hid their faces with balaclavas and wore boiler suit-type clothing.
They carried out the terrifying armed raids in Medway, Gravesend, Aylesford, Ashford and Longfield between February 2012 and May this year.
Now 41-year-old Snape, of Chapel Yard, Wandsworth, has been jailed for 14 years and Robert Powsey, 42, of Peacock Rise, Walderslade, for nine years and nine months.
Judge Jeremy Carey said Powsey and Snape had "behaved in the most appalling, criminal and anti-social way".
Police today released CCTV footage of the pair carrying out three of their raids - wielding weapons and grabbing terrified staff.
Snape is also captured revealed his face to a camera as he removed his balaclava after one Chatham robbery... evidence that helped secure his conviction.
In an attempt to throw police off the scent, they also used fake northern, southern and Irish accents when carrying out the robberies.
Maidstone Crown Court heard all but one of the nine robberies and one attempted robbery happened at newsagents owned by the Martin McColl chain.
One raid alone netted £5,000 and two stores, including McColl's in The Alma, Gravesend, and McColl's in Admirals Walk, Lordswood, were robbed twice.
The raiders often struck while staff were bringing in the early-morning newspapers from the back of their stores.
One manager told the court when she was confronted by a raider she initially thought a joke was being played on her by a delivery driver and tried to push him aside.
But she soon realised the man was wearing a balaclava and armed with an axe.
Snape denied conspiracy to rob between February 2012 and May 2013, but was convicted by the jury at Maidstone Crown Court. His partner in the raids was Powsey.
"Morning bubs. Safe and sound, not rich but enough to buy you a Christmas present..." - a text sent by Duncan Snape to his wife
The jury was told Snape could be linked to the robberies through DNA on gloves and a balaclava found at Powsey's home, CCTV footage of one of the robbers removing his balaclava and mobile phone evidence that places Snape's phone in the area around the times of several raids.
One text message sent to his wife shortly after a robbery at a branch of Martin's in The Row, New Ash Green, on December 18 last year said: "Morning bubs. Safe and sound, not rich but enough to buy you a Christmas present."
However, Snape had earlier denied having any involvement in any of the robberies or the one attempted robbery.
Asked how his phone came to be in various locations within hours of the raids being committed, he said he was either camping to get away from the stress of his forthcoming wedding, or checking out possible sites for legal raves.
He said he would also accompany Powsey during his nightshifts as a recovery truck driver.
The same vehicle was recorded starting its engine at the time the robbery at McColl's in Gravesend ended on March 3 but Snape denied any knowledge of the raid.
A balaclava and gloves carrying traces of Snape's DNA were later found in a garage at Powsey's home.
Snape, who admitted during his evidence that he was involved in a robbery with Powsey in 1995, told the court it was normal for him to wear a balaclava in the course of his work for G Force Stage and Show Crew, as well as using cable ties.
"It's quite probably my balaclava," he said. "I have got quite a lot of hats. In the summer I usually wear caps because they are cheaper than sunglassses.
"During the winter I wear woolly hats. I will wear a balaclava rolled up if I'm setting up a festival which takes weeks to set up.
"If it's raining and cold you can't stop. We don't need to see who our faces are. We all know who wears hats and who doesn't."
He denied being the raider captured on camera removing his balaclava at the end of one of the robberies.
The robberies carried out in 2012 were at McColl's in Admirals Walk, Lordswood, on March 5 and April 29, McColl's in Orion Road, Rochester, on September 26, and Martin's in New Ash Green on December 18. A raid at The Co-Op in Parkwood, Rainham, on February 8, was not included in today's sentence.
Raids carried out this year were at McColl's in The Singleton Centre in Ashford on February 11, McColl's at The Alma in Gravesend on March 3 and 31, and McColl's in St Martin's Square, Larkfield, on March 11.
The attempted raid occurred at Martin's newsagents in Parkwood Green, Rainham, on September 3 last year.
The court heard Powsey had eight convictions for 18 offences and Snape 11 convictions for 27 offences.
They were each jailed for four-and-a-half years in 1996 for a similar robbery at a McColl's newsagents.
Snape was sentenced to 10 years in 2002 for robberies in which he poured fuel over victims and threatened to set them alight. He was jailed for three years in 2009 for drug dealing.
Judge Jeremy Carey told the pair: “You are hardened criminals, you more so Snape," he added. "That is the way I approach this sentencing exercise."
Snape, he said, was convicted on "absolutely overwhelming evidence", while Powsey had the intelligence to realise a guilty plea was the right and sensible course.
"This on any view was a campaign of robberies and one which will attract very substantial sentences,” said the judge. "There must be seen to be deterrence on the part of the courts for those who planned and executed such a campaign.
"One which is accompanied by violence and the threat of violence is particularly repugnant and requires such punishment."
Speaking after sentencing, investigating officer, Detective Constable Jon Saxby of the Kent and Essex Serious Crime Directorate, said: "This was a lengthy investigation which involved piecing together lots of evidence from nine robberies and an attempted robbery over 15 months.
"The use of technology allowed us to put Snape and Powsey in the area of where the robberies were carried out and the evidence of text messages sent between the pair, often in the early hours of the morning, proved to be an important part of the investigation.
"We were also able to use face recognition software that helped us identify Snape when he removed his balaclava after leaving a shop that he had just robbed.
"I’ve no doubt that had we not caught them, arrested them and then put them before the courts, they would have continued threatening innocent shop staff and stealing thousands of pounds."
