Six charged in handcuffs case
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by Lee Kimber • Six men appeared at West Hendon magistrates court this week after police arrested them soon after a Radlett, Herts robbery which was similar to a series of attacks on hauliers.
Victims were handcuffed to a staircase as burglars searched for their cash and jewellery.
Suffolk haulier Derek Cooper suffered a similar attack at his Red Lodge home on 6 February (CM 20-26 Feb) soon after haulier Dave Webb was handcuffed in a robbery at his Newmarket home.
"It's too early to speculate if they are associated with similar crimes," a police spokeswoman says. "They have been charged."
The arrests followed a week's surveillance codenamed "Raptor" that led to armed police lying in wait in a Radlett pub carpark last Saturday. They were acting on sightings of three white men in their twenties who were seen in a dark red G-registered Peugeot 309 saloon car near Cooper's home.
On the day of the Cooper attack three men were seen outside a Red Lodge shop in a dark coloured saloon car. Later that day two men were seen sitting on a wall opposite the Coopers' house.
Three armed men burst into his home, handcuffing Cooper to a staircase before forcing his wife Vera to drive to their haulage office and open the safe. She was later tied up with her husband.
Police believe this might be linked to the attack on Dave Webb's home in January—in that incident a gang stole £90,000 of jewellery.