Episode 11 The Wanted

Police, come to the door! Police with a warrant, come to the door!

Contact. First floor.

There's a cannabis farm in there.

Pleased, just to think, obviously the Intel

was relatively good.

Every day in the UK,

the police are on the hunt for known and suspected criminals.

Get back from the door!

They are armed with warrants and big red keys.

The Greater Manchester and West Yorkshire forces

have granted exclusive access to their raids.

Police!

Their officers are wearing special equipment

to give you a cop's eye view and bring you closer

to the action than ever before.

What's your name?!

Britain's streets are a battleground.

-Stay out of the way.

-I live here.

-Stay back!

On one side are the men and women fighting to keep us safe.

And on the other, are the wanted.

Greater Manchester,

home to the third largest police force in the UK.

Over 2.5 million people protected by 6,700 officers.

Morning, everybody. Operation Auckland,

Section 8 PACE warrant this morning...

It's also been the scene of a spate of armed robberies.

The Serious Organised Crime team have launched Operation Auckland,

to track down and unmask raiders.

Those involved dangerous robberies of bookmakers, post offices,

jewellers and off-licences.

They involve the use of firearms, axes,

crowbars and violence against the victims,

specifically where they've actually put a gun to people's heads,

pointed firearms at them.

-Get it open now.

-I promise you...

-Get it open now.

Listen, I will. I will open it for you.

-Get it open.

-Listen...

We look at teams of organised crime groups that

are continuing with that sort of organised crime work -

drugs, guns, robberies,

all the sort of serious stuff that hits the newspapers.

Systematically search the premises...

Operation Auckland has already had some success.

Three people are currently on remand,

having been changed with this conspiracy.

Peter Dentith, Yan Tingle and Paul Otis Turner.

Today, the team are targeting another man who they suspect

may be linked to the robberies.

This is who we're after, Damian Ormiston.

In terms of warning markers, intelligence for Damian,

he has warning markers for drugs, failing to appear.

He's a known local offender. He's been arrested quite recently for shoplifting.

He is believed to be a drug user so please be aware of your personal

safety for items associated to drug use, needles etc.

This is an image from the One Stop Shop in Hollingworth,

probably the best shot we get of Ormiston.

He's got an IKEA bag there and, as you can see,

you can partially see part of his face

which is consistent with Damian Ormiston,

wearing what looks what looks like a snood type fleece,

covering with the hood pulled down tight over his head.

Damian Ormiston is 31 and lives in

the Broadbottom area of Greater Manchester.

In relation to Damian,

there wasn't a lot of warnings out there

but that's never to say that we're up-to-date

with information because you just never know when somebody is

going to have a gun under their bed

or have a hammer under the bed or what sort of mood

they're going to be in on that day.

The one time that we think this is safe,

there's going to be no issues whatsoever,

that could be the one day when it can go sour.

It's not a bad little leafy village, really.

The team are moments away from giving their suspect

an early morning wake-up call.

Crime crosses country as well as county borders.

Every week, over 20 foreign criminals

are extradited from the UK.

These are Europe's most wanted,

sought by police in their own countries

for everything from murder and rape to a breach of bail.

The European arrest warrants allows the police in the UK to arrest them

and put them on planes back home, where justice awaits.

The European arrest warrant is issued for somebody that

has committed a crime anywhere in the EU.

They are allocated to me for anybody

that's living in West Yorkshire,

or believed to be living in West Yorkshire that's wanted.

You can be on a murder one day

and then you can be on an assault the next day.

You just never know what's going to come in or what sort of character

you're going to meet.

For the last eight years,

West Yorkshire PC Dave Lockwood has been tracking down wanted

European criminals who have been evading justice.

The reason today,

we're going to be taking a van is, the first chap we're going for,

he's got a good history of violence.

So I'm hoping everything goes without incident.

But should he kick off, and be violent,

a car is not a place to put him.

He'll need to go in the rear cage so we've brought a van so we're able

to deal with that straightaway.

Today's target is 49-year-old Jacek Wozniak.

He's wanted for crimes in Poland.

There's good reason for PC Lockwood to take precautions.

Neil and I arrested him in 2012.

I know you're driving. I'll show you his picture again.

We arrested him for murder on a European arrest warrant.

He was successfully extradited.

He's served his sentence.

He's come back and he's wanted on two further offences.

All his offences are violent.

He has beaten people with his bare hands.

Just go in nice and softly and see where we go from there.

XW from X-ray November 42.

Yeah, can I just let you know that myself and my colleague are going to

effect an arrest.

It's this building we're coming up to now

where the guy's just walking out of. It's one of them there.

It's a dead end as well.

This address here, so just park here.

No key in the lock.

HE KNOCKS ON THE DOOR

There's definitely a man in here, I heard his voice.

Hello, it's the police.

-Hello.

-Hello.

-Sorry to bother you.

-Am I OK to come in?

-Boom, boom, boom?

-Yeah, my apologies.

-Am I OK to come in?

-No, no, no.

-We'll sort the language barrier out.

-One moment.

-One moment, I understand.

OK.

Can I have some ID from this gentleman, please?

We had intelligence linking Jacek to that address,

quite strong intelligence,

which were confirmed by two or three different sources.

So when we went to that address, we can't just say, he's not here,

you've never heard of him, right, see you later.

We can't do that because we've got good intelligence that he's either

connected there or he's been sleeping there.

So, we need to know, is that connection still up-to-date,

what was the connection and is there any way of tracing him?

Thank you.

We've just spoken to the lady in there that speaks the better English

out of the four of them.

She said she doesn't know him, he never stayed there,

doesn't know who he is and then later through the conversation when

I've explained that if she does lie to us, and we find he is here,

it could have repercussions on herself, she's then said,

I know him, but then she's gone back on that again.

So I don't know if it's a language barrier,

if she's confused or she's trying to protect him or not.

Come on, Andy.

You can have ten leads,

you might follow nine in the wrong direction

but you have to follow them because you don't know which one is going to

lead you to the person that you want.

So a lot of time, it's a lot of work that doesn't lead anywhere.

In Manchester, the Serious Organised Crime Group are about to arrest

Damian Ormiston on suspicion of conspiracy to commit armed robbery.

-Hello.

-Hello, can you come down, Damian, please?

-Yeah.

-Ta.

Damian, just grab a seat for us.

The reason we're here, mate,

is because you are under arrest

on suspicion of conspiracy to commit robbery. OK?

Excuse me, love, come here.

A number of robberies across Greater Manchester Police, OK?

You don't have to say anything but it may harm your defence if you

don't mention, when questioned, something which you later rely on in court.

Anything that you do say may be given in evidence.

-Do you understand, Damian?

-Yeah.

-OK, mate. We're going to get you some clothing and then we'll get

you taken to the local police station so we can interview you about these robberies.

Do you know what the robberies are that we're talking about?

-I haven't a

-BLEEP

-clue what you're talking about.

-OK, mate.

Robberies? I don't do robberies.

That's what I've just said. You've got nothing to worry about, love.

I don't do robberies, it's not my character.

Get me my 110s, a tracksuit, a pair of shorts, a vest,

a T-shirt and my PTs because I'm getting arrested

for suspicion of robbery.

-Why?

-How the

-BLEEP

-do I know?

We'll explain all that to him.

He's not been out!

WOMAN CRIES

-BLEEP

-joke, this.

Damian was just in his boxer shorts, that is unfortunate to say,

something very typical when we do go to these people's addresses

in the early morning, that they're not dressed.

In fact, any time of day is very often that they're not fully dressed.

That's just one of the downsides of the job.

Down in the cellar,

Detective Sergeant Richard Castley makes a discovery.

One that demands some answers.

In here, it's the start of what looks like a basic cannabis farm.

They've got five pots. It's obviously just started because the plants are very, very small.

They've got lighting, ventilation etc in there.

It looks like they've bypassed the meter upstairs as well.

I've been out of trouble for two years, man.

Not out of trouble too much, are you?

You've got a cannabis farm downstairs.

It's not mine. It's not a cannabis farm, is it?

Five plants, personal use.

Yeah, mate.

Damian, because you've just said that,

I'm also arresting you on suspicion of cultivation of cannabis.

OK, mate?

I'm going to record what you've just said to me.

That farm is nothing to do with me.

OK, mate, is this your address, Damian?

I live here, yeah.

Robbery and serious crime and drugs go hand in hand whether it's for

personal use or for making of money to buy drugs, to sell drugs.

Yeah, they very much go hand-in-hand.

-Are you wearing those clothes?

-I'm not wearing them, no.

I'm getting remanded straightaway, aren't I?

-Why would you get remanded, Damian?

-Because I'm on bail for a drug charge.

-It's a joke, this.

-What was the drugs charge?

Possession of cocaine and possession of cannabis.

But they want to do with intent because it was 70% pure, the cocaine.

-I had a crack habit at the

-BLEEP

-time, see.

-That's a high purity that, Damian.

-Yeah, I just got a not guilty on the supply, though,

so I'm getting sentenced in August for possession.

This is a joke, this.

-Tracksuit bottoms for you.

-Have you got a T-shirt please?

-You've got a vest on, you don't need one.

-Can you get me a T-shirt?

I need everything matching, you see.

I'm not going to jail without a matching pair of clothes.

-Right.

-It's not happening.

We said, "We're going to get your clothes, you're going to go to the police station,

"going to be interviewed and then you'll go home."

However, they treat it as a fashion show and say, "I don't want that,

"I want this Adidas one, I want these trainers,

"I want these tracksuit bottoms." It's very frustrating.

On a very regular basis,

they are quite demanding about what they get to wear to the police station.

I can't believe I'm being arrested for robbery.

A few of my mates have just been locked up for robbery,

it's nothing to do with me. They're not even mates,

-they're associates.

-Right.

You might be able to explain something about that to us

-when you get in custody.

-Nothing to do with me.

Time for the officers to take their suspect into custody.

I can't believe this. All me neighbours, man.

This way here, mate.

He's made some significant comments in relation to that robbery,

that his associates have been arrested for robbery.

He also made what I believe to be a significant comment, he said,

without us mentioning the fact,

he said the robberies involved the use of a firearm,

which these robberies did, all bar one, involved the use of a firearm.

The team are now free to search the property for evidence relating to the CCTV footage

while Damian will have to face some tough questions.

In Bradford, PCs Dave Lockwood and Andy Million

are still on the hunt for a Polish criminal.

Jacek Wozniak has a history of violence.

He's wanted back in his home country

in connection with two assaults.

Hello, police!

The police now have another lead as to where Wozniak might be living.

I will not give up on one.

If there's possible lead whatsoever and it's not dead, any lead,

I will follow it. I will not give up.

And that means knocking on a lot of doors.

Hello.

Searching for information.

Do you want me to show him?

Yes, show the picture, by all means.

Do you know this gentleman?

Here before three days?

Andy is just talking to these people.

I can't get into upstairs but they say they recognise his picture

and they think he's living upstairs.

They've seen him get out of a taxi with his shopping,

so Andy is just going to try and establish if that's recent.

We're going to see if we can get upstairs.

Hello, sir. Sorry for bothering you.

I understand you own number 14.

-Yeah.

-I'm interested in a chap that might be living there.

-All right.

-Er, that chap living there?

I've got told by other people he is, they recognised his picture.

I knew who were living there a couple of...

He's been there for a good six, seven months.

-Right. Until when?

-Until only about four weeks ago.

-Four weeks ago.

-So you're four weeks behind.

-June.

After hours of enquiries,

eventually the officers receive a promising tip-off.

Their target has been working at a factory in Bradford.

We've come here now to talk to the shift manager,

see if he can help us at all.

It's quarter past seven,

so it may be a case that we need to wait until tomorrow to talk to HR.

So because we're here anyway we might as well talk to him,

see if we can find owt out.

But it may be a case we may have to make some calls tomorrow.

We'll find out.

Thanks for seeing us.

I'm interested in locating a Polish gentleman.

I've received intelligence that he was working here three months ago.

I don't know in what capacity, whether agency,

full-time or what role he did.

Am I able to give you his details and you can check?

That's his name.

Jacek Wozniak.

He'll be in at ten o'clock tonight.

Right, shall we just go through to security and buzz you up,

or shall I ring you on your mobile?

Dave plans to return to the factory for the night shift.

Preparations for the arrest need to be perfect.

He knows just how dangerous his wanted man can be.

He'd beaten somebody to death with his bare hands,

so there was the violence there.

We have more intelligence about his violent nature.

So it was getting the search down and working out where he was,

and then when we knew where he was,

putting the right tactics together to minimise injury to us,

himself and the public.

The Serious Organised Crime Team in Manchester are continuing their

investigation into a series of armed robberies.

They've arrested Damian Ormiston,

who they believe is part of the gang.

At Central Park Police Station,

their suspect is coming under questioning.

Bloody hell, I thought I'd have to shake you to wake you up, Damian.

The reason we're here, Damian,

is obviously these robberies that you say you've no involvement in

whatsoever, right,

I'm going to show you some footage from one of the robberies, OK?

So one of the robberies, one of the persons hasn't got his face fully,

so that image there, that male, obviously you can see his eyes,

his nose and part of his face, OK?

So what I'm going to ask you to do, mate,

so we can have it properly examined later on,

is to take some photographs of you up close, OK?

-No, not a chance.

-OK.

-That's not up close.

As I say, Damian, if you've not been involved in it,

that sort of stuff could prove that

-you haven't been involved and it's not you.

-That's not me.

Right. So taking properly...

I don't want to have my photos took.

You've got a camera taking photographs.

Right, OK, that's fine, mate.

All right, see you shortly.

-Don't forget the juice.

-Juice it is.

-And a brew.

-And a brew!

While Ormiston remains in custody,

a thorough search is under way at his home,

led by Detective Sergeant Richard Castley.

Look in the bag. Some lights.

-What's that?

-Hallelujah.

-IKEA bag.

We want that, don't we, Jackie, a bag?

From the CCTV, one of the offenders who we suspect is Damian,

he's got the distinctive top on,

but he's also carrying what looks like a blue IKEA bag as well.

The IKEA bag is just in his hand,

what he's loading the cigarettes into.

And you can see it clearer on the first image there,

you can see it's the blue IKEA bag and there's the IKEA handle

hanging down at the bottom.

We were looking for things that may have been used in the robbery,

some of the weapons, some of the clothing, face masks,

the person who we believed was Damian had worn like a half

face mask snood during the robbery.

That was one of the main things we went for on the day,

to try and locate that.

-What have you found?

-Just a black snood,

which has basically been improvised and made shorter.

Some stitching there up a long line.

-OK.

-Which can be used as a concealment for face covering

as per the briefing this morning.

You can see on the CCTV as well,

he's got a snood half covering his face.

And again, it's an improvised, er, balaclava, in effect.

-WOMAN:

-I done that, we were messing about in here.

-You want to take a seat for me, please.

-It's not Damian's.

We've got CCTV from all the jobs,

so we are going to have to compare the CCTV,

but I'm sure there's a light-coloured mask in one of them

so that'll be something that'll have to be assessed.

Brilliant, good find.

We found the facemask we believe was what Damian wore during the

commission of one of the offences.

We found another facemask that he'd cut himself,

sort of looked like it was a tracksuit sleeve or tracksuit leg

that he'd adapted to be a home-made balaclava,

not particularly professional.

Damian gave quite an amusing explanation.

He'd adapted it himself to put on to see whether his dog would be

frightened by it. That was his explanation.

I'm not 100% convinced by that.

In Bradford, the uniformed team have

spent the day on the trail of Jacek Wozniak.

He is wanted in Poland for assault

and West Yorkshire Police are due to

take him into custody using a European Arrest Warrant.

Keys. Warrant.

Torch.

Handcuffs.

Handcuffs the right way.

They are planning to arrest Wozniak as he starts his night shift

at a local factory.

I'm sat here waiting for my phone to ring and it's driving me mad.

He said he'd get back to me in ten and it's about that now,

so it looks like he's not turned into work.

Hi, it's PC Lockwood again.

Has he a history of calling in sick, or is this quite unusual for him?

The police are with Jack right now.

Where's...

They've got a call saying the police are with him now.

Sorry, I'm just relaying that information.

They say there's a police officer that's rung them

and said he's just arrested him and

he's never going to come back to work again.

It's frustrating when you couldn't see through to the end but...

It's the way it goes.

But it doesn't stop here, if he has been arrested,

we need to see who this officer is and if he knows how to deal with

European arrest warrants

and find out who he is so we can help him

and make sure the file's done right.

It seems that another officer has arrested Wozniak

for a different offence, but now that he's in custody,

Dave has to get there quickly to

make sure the European arrest warrant is executed correctly.

-Did he know he was wanted?

-I got the impression he did.

Hello. OK?

You OK?

You don't know? Just give us a minute.

Yeah.

OK, do you want to just back off a minute, then?

-OK.

-Thank you very much.

-All right.

-I'm going to be dealing with you now.

-All right.

I'm going to be looking after you now.

-All right.

-I'd like you to come with me so I can take your

fingerprints. Yeah, all right, bring it with you then.

-Come on, then.

-Sorry.

Come on.

It would've been nice for us to arrest him, to see his face.

However, the big picture is we've got him and we had to put all those

frustrations behind us because

we then had to work out does the officer know how to deal with him

and can we get the paperwork right?

And everything we've done over the past days and weeks we needed to capture.

So it was find the officer,

speak to them and find out if they needed help,

which, in this case, they did.

How do you pronounce your first name?

-My name?

-Yes.

-Ya-sek.

-Yasek.

-Yes.

-OK.

-J-A-C-E-K.

-OK, Jacek, come with me.

-Right now I want to take your fingerprints and talk about your arrest, OK?

-OK.

The details surrounding Wozniak's arrest gradually become clear.

While the officers were waiting for him to show up for work,

he'd been involved in a street fight.

We've had a report that approximately half past three

yesterday afternoon

that a male's been assaulted within the city centre and is being refused

medical treatment by ambulance staff.

He's been aggressive towards those,

so we had a call from ambulance control

to come down and assist with ambulance.

The officer you just saw, who you're not happy with,

obviously arrested you yesterday.

-Yes?

-All right.

-He's arrested you on a European arrest warrant

and we're going to go take your fingerprints on here, OK?

Just stand to that side, please.

Nice and gentle. Let me know if it's hurting.

-Finish?

-No, no, no. We've got to do more than that.

Right, take a seat there and you can start reading through your warrant.

Do you want to give him the warrant and he can...?

Jacek was in custody, he was under control, he'd been searched,

we knew we didn't have any dangerous items on him.

When the arresting officer dealt with him, he was out on the street,

he was in drink, he'd been violent,

so, totally different person to deal with.

I had the easier one, I think.

Following this European arrest for assault,

convicted murderer Wozniak appeared before the courts in London.

Nobody has a problem with anybody that wants to come to the UK,

work hard, raise a family. Nobody has any issues whatsoever.

It's the people that are intent on coming here and committing crime

and not contributing anything to society.

I think the public have got less tolerance for these sort of people.

No further action was taken against Wozniak for the street fight.

He was eventually extradited back to Poland

to serve a three-year sentence for the assault offences.

Manchester, a modern city with a modern skyline.

It's attracted huge investment in recent years,

but it wasn't always like this.

The blazing beacon that lit the night sky above Moss Side

was, only moments before, a hardware store.

Dozens of other shops had to be boarded up in the wake

of the rioters' first major rampage.

The mob, black and white, 1,000 in all,

had already moved swiftly to

surround and attack Moss Side Police Station.

Back in the '80s, the Moss Side district gained notoriety

as a scene of some of the worst ever riots in Britain.

A decade on, and vicious turf wars between drug gangs resulted

in a series of shootings, earning the city the nickname "Gunchester".

Amid the drugs, the violence and the deprivation,

the police set up a task force codenamed Excalibur.

The sole focus was to deal with the gang issues

that evolved around south Manchester and to tackle them head-on.

One of the offshoots of gangs is its close association with guns

and the gun-related criminality that comes from that

and Excalibur has looked to deal with

the fire-arms threat that comes from that.

One of our straplines is "creating gun-free streets in Manchester."

Right, thanks a lot for coming.

We're going to be doing two warrants at number 26 and 24 flat six,

we'll be asking you...

This morning, PC Martin Harrison is preparing to lead a raid.

Basically, we are going there,

we are conducting, simultaneously, firearms and drugs warrants at both addresses.

We are looking for this lad.

The intelligence has dropped in that this lad's dealing from his home

address, but also that he's under duress to hold firearms.

If anyone's threatening officers with a firearm or anything

similar, or any kind of weapon,

obviously the term "bandit" or "gun" usually works as well.

OK. Lovely, thank you very much.

The team are heading to the Crumpsall area of Manchester.

We are going in there under a drugs and a firearms warrant for both

addresses. Obviously, taking guns off the streets is one of the main

priorities at the minute.

Yeah, this one here.

With the possibility of a firearm involved,

the officers have support from the fully kitted out tactical aid unit.

Police with a warrant, come to the door!

Contact first floor.

Well, they'll then get in there, get control of the address and then,

obviously when it's safe to do so, we'll go in.

Right.

As soon as they're inside,

they discover evidence of drugs manufacturing.

Yes...

-Got straight in a room. It's a cannabis farm.

-Oh, is it?

-It is, yeah.

-All right, happy days.

-There's no-one in there.

-No-one in there? Right, OK.

Basically, the update is that they've gone to flat six,

which is where the warrant is that we've got,

and confirmed that there is a cannabis farm in there.

Like I say, don't know the level of how big it is how many plants

there are, but...

Leads us to think obviously the intel was relatively good.

With no-one home,

the team will have to establish

who is responsible for the cannabis farm.

Across the city,

officers have arrested Damian Ormiston

on suspicion of conspiracy to commit robbery.

Come on, mate, let's get these photos done. Say it again?

Have they not brought you food yet?

We'll mention it to the custody sergeant again.

Right, we'll just get these photos taken.

They'll take five minutes.

Detective Richard McCorry wants to get photographs of his detainee.

He's convinced him to pose in the same position as the hooded man

captured on CCTV while taking part in a shop raid.

-Like that?

-Yeah.

That's not they way he sat.

The process itself is called what we call facial mapping.

We'll take those photographs,

ideally from a similar sort of angle,

similar sort of range to that on the CCTV,

so Damian's face was sort of looking up towards that camera,

so we wanted to get a scenes of crime officer to take that angle,

and hopefully they'll be able to say, yes, this is that person,

I'll lend some support to it or, no, it's not actually the same person.

You want to open your eyes and look at me?

-Thank you.

-Yeah, that's great.

You need some evidence so you can charge me.

All done now, thank you very much.

Thank you for your help.

All right, mate, you can probably get a bit of a kip, if you want,

-for an hour or so.

-I want to go home.

The more I look at that, the more I'm 100% convinced it's him.

-OK, fair enough.

-But...

In the weeks after the arrest,

the Operation Auckland team continue their attempts to build a case

against Ormiston.

But, in that time,

another suspected member of the gang comes to their attention.

This is the final person who we think has been involved in

the actual commission of the 14 offences. David Connor.

He's going to be arrested for conspiracy to commit robbery.

The sensitivity of this last link in the chain means that many of

the officers involved are working covertly.

Clothing has played a huge role in the offences,

as the offenders have generally worn the exact same,

distinctive clothing, and the outstanding clothing

is a black leather/shiny style jacket.

This is used on at least 11 of the offences.

This is an image of the Lacoste top and the balaclava.

You can see, it's like the IRA-style balaclava.

On some of the offences, the offender's been described as having

no or broken teeth at the front and a drug-user appearance.

The team are heading off towards

Connor's home in the east of Manchester.

He has previous convictions for drugs offences and violence.

Police!

-Police! Open the door!

-Yeah, he is in the address.

He's just coming to the door now.

Open the door!

MUFFLED SPEECH

Move the baby then.

-I was just getting him up for school. What's happening?

-He's got the baby. David.

-What's up?

-Sit down, mate, on the sofa.

-What's going on?

You are under arrest for conspiracy to commit robbery, OK?

You don't have to say anything but it may harm your defence if

you don't mention when questioned something which you rely on in court.

Anything you do say may be used evidence. Can you sit down, please?

-At the address now?

-Yeah, we've got him detained.

You on bail at the minute, David?

-Yeah.

-Yeah.

Can you not tell what it's about, though?

It's a series of armed robberies on certain dates,

so we'll take you down to the police station and,

whether you have a solicitor or not,

-we'll give them disclosure and obviously talk about that in the interview, OK?

-Yeah, sweet.

Thank you.

Another suspected member of the armed gang taken into custody.

Now the team needs to search the house for the clothing featured in that CCTV footage.

-Do you want to see this?

-What have you got?

So this is the black shiny jacket.

You can see how shiny it is. With the hood as well.

Very similar to the one from the footage.

So we'll be taking that as well today.

The result of finding that jacket in itself was a small victory for the

investigation but, when you start piecing it together

with the telephone messages,

the cell site evidence,

the CCTV images showing him being of the same shape as that offender

and everything else,

it just all falls in together to make a really sort of

nice investigation story to show what his actual involvement was.

Have you done those?

Soon, more evidence linked to the robberies is found.

Right, so we've got a black balaclava.

Obviously we'll seize that and compare it to the one we've got.

As the exhibits are taken back to the office...

..David Connor awaits questioning in custody.

Yeah, they checked that, definitely.

OK, you just want to stand up for me?

Yeah, of course.

He's having photographs taken,

as an eyewitness stated that one of the robbers had missing teeth.

Do you want to open your mouth. Can you smile with your teeth?

-Move a bit closer.

-Oh, sorry.

-That's it. Thank you.

-Nice one.

Following that warrant this morning, we've recovered some

significant clothing that was used in the commission

of the robberies - a balaclava and a really distinctive,

shiny black Adidas jacket that was worn during

at least four or five of the robberies.

Three of the robberies,

our witnesses have described one of the offenders as

a distinctive feature being that they were missing the right side

of the two front teeth,

which we now know David Connor

is missing one of his prominent front teeth.

Right, OK. You are charged with the following offence.

You don't have to say anything but it may harm your defence if you

don't mention now something which you later rely on in court.

Come to the door!

Manchester's Excalibur team have uncovered a cannabis farm in

the Crumpsall area of the city.

They found it while searching for a suspect, a man called Ghaffer Dar,

wanted in connection with suspected drugs and firearms offences.

-RADIO:

-'Just confirm the warrant's been organised

'and you didn't take a van with you.'

No, we didn't.

Their warrant covers two addresses.

PC Martin Harrison is leading the investigation.

What have you found?

Just a wee bit of cannabis wrapped in some plastic.

-All right.

-It was found just in this cupboard.

In the second address,

another officer has located the man in question.

Based on what we found next door,

you're under arrest on suspicion of cultivating and producing cannabis.

You do not have to say anything but it may harm your defence if you do not mention when questioned

something that you later rely on in court.

Anything you do say may be given in evidence, OK?

It's necessary to arrest you in order to allow the prompt and effective investigation

of what's going on, all right?

-Have you got anything to say?

-No.

-No? All right.

With the suspect detained,

the officers are searching for any further evidence,

including a potential firearm.

A sniffer dog's been brought in to help the team.

Go on.

What are you doing?

Let's see.

Good boy, good boy.

The dog has searched underneath the communal stairs,

where the meter cupboard is.

Inside there, he's found a carrier bag,

which inside that carrier bag is another bag which contained

a number of snap bags of cannabis and also a food bag of cannabis,

which is obviously ready for bagging up.

We've seized the plants and items which could be forensically examined

to assist in proving who may have set that cannabis farm up.

After that, anything else that isn't of forensic use has been destroyed

and left in situ so the cannabis farm can't be used again.

Their suspect will now be taken to the custody suite

to answer questions about the cannabis farm.

Unfortunately, we didn't recover a firearm but we have recovered a

quantity of drugs at both addresses, really,

as well as some cash in the first address, so we'll go back,

we'll get together, see what

exhibits we've got and then put together

some sort of investigation strategy.

Several months later,

and that investigation strategy eventually led to Ghaffer Dar

receiving a 12-month prison sentence

and a £100 fine for production of a cannabis farm.

Earlier, the Serious Organised Crime Team arrested David Connor

in the final phase of the Operation Auckland investigation.

With every suspect charged and in police custody,

the team will now have to build their case for court.

This involves painstakingly gathering the evidence

for each offence which had occurred, in post offices,

jewellers and bookmakers in and around Manchester.

They were using weapons on each occasion,

sometimes they were using violence, threatening people,

putting guns to their heads.

They've been counting down, "Open the safe, five, four, three", that sort of thing.

-I promise you.

-Get it open now.

-I promise you.

-Get it open now.

Listen. I'm going to count to ten, if you don't...

-No, no... I'm not...

-Get it open!

They were very serious,

nasty robberies that have left some people traumatised.

Can end up with people sometimes

they can't even go back to their places of work,

because they imagine it's going to happen again to them.

So, yeah, really traumatising experience for a lot of people.

At court, David Connor pleaded guilty

to his part in seven robberies.

He is currently in prison serving a nine-year sentence.

His main accomplice, Paul Turner,

also pleaded guilty and received ten years' imprisonment.

Yan Tingle and Peter Dentith

will be locked up for six years for their part in the robberies.

Damian Ormiston was the only gang member who pleaded not guilty.

However, a jury later found the evidence overwhelming,

and he was convicted.

He'll be behind bars for eight years.

An excellent result for Manchester's Serious Organised Crime Team.

Catch these people going out and committing crime and that,

in the back of my mind, I'm always thinking,

"Well, this is the world that my kids have got to grow up in

"and it's going downhill rapidly."

So what little bit I can do to try and stop that and try to make it

a better place, I'm more than happy to do.