Lee Murray could be free at the end of 2011
Robbers convicted of Britain’s biggest cash heist could win a retrial after a *forensics officer on the case was found guilty of destroying evidence
The officer who *collected the masks the gang used in the £53million Securitas *robbery in 2006 has been *disciplined for accidentally disposing of *evidence in another case.
The officer’s actions left Kent Police with no choice but to tell the lawyers of the gang jailed for the record-breaking heist about what she had done.
Police chiefs are now *bracing themselves for a legal fight that could see the gang *winning a *retrial.
Their legal teams are expected to argue that as the officer disposed of exhibits in one case, she could have done the same during their clients’ *investigation – although there is no evidence that this happened.
Five men were jailed in the UK and another, *cagefighter Lee Murray, in *Morocco for the *audacious robbery at a *Securitas depot in Tonbridge, Kent.
A police source said: “The thought that these men could get their convictions quashed *because of the actions of one officer is too *horrendous to *contemplate.
“This officer’s competence has been brought into question *because of *another case and that left us with no choice but to write to the gang’s lawyers.
“This whole affair is a massive embarrassment.”
Police recovered £21million but the rest of the cash, along with gang member Sean Lupton and several others, slipped through their fingers.
Derek Parker, Lee Murray’s British lawyer, confirmed he had received the letter from Kent Police. He said: “This has *implications for all of those *serving sentences for the *robbery.
“We are seeking guidance from counsel on this.”
During the heist, in February 2006, two of the gang posed as police officers to abduct Securitas depot manager Colin Dixon, while *others held his wife and eight-year-old son hostage at their home in Herne Bay.
The gang drove Mr Dixon to the depot and forced their way in, tying up workers as they filled a truck with cash. Staff *described their ordeal as “brutal, horrific and traumatic”.
Stuart Royle, Jetmir Bucpapa, Roger Coutts and Lea Rusha were all jailed for life in 2008 while Emir *Hysenaj got 20 years. In June 2010 Murray was jailed in *Morocco – where he claimed citizenship – for 25 years.
http://images.mirror.co.uk/upl/m4/ju...-120265244.jpg
http://images.mirror.co.uk/upl/m4/ju...-404968075.jpg
Securitas heist gang could get retrial after forensics officer found guilty of destroying evidence - mirror.co.uk
