The so-called 'skull mask gang' carried machetes and firearms and left their victims mentally scarred.
Over the summer of 2017, ordinary men and women, preparing to go home after a long shift, were suddenly faced with the terrifying sight of armed men in black skull masks, bursting into restaurants and bars across the city. Led by violent thug Frankie Wood, the men hit nine different premises, one on two different days, in a spate of robberies.
Three of those involved in the conspiracy were jailed for lengthy terms three years ago, but at least two accomplices have so far evaded justice. Merseyside Police told the ECHO two further arrests were made, but the suspects were later released without charge.
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Back in March 2018, Wood's family gasped in horror as he was jailed for 19 years, with an extended five years on licence, at Liverpool Crown Court. Look-out and getaway driver Hayley Digney, 34, did not threaten or attack her victims directly, but was slammed by Judge Neil Flewitt, QC, for providing a vehicle and carrying out reconnaissance of the gang's targets while knowing what was going to happen.
Digney was jailed for 14 and a half years, while henchman Thomas Lacken, 39, was jailed for 10 years for joining in one of the raids. The ECHO looks back at an extraordinary crime spree which left ripples of trauma across the city.
"Don't think I won't put a bullet in you"
In what was described as the gang's most serious robbery, 23-year-old Wood left Domino's Pizza assistant manager Thomas Walsh bleeding heavily after splitting his lip open with the butt of a pistol. Mr Walsh was told "don't think I won't put a bullet in you" while his colleague, Lucia Simovicova, also had the pistol pressed against her head.
In a harrowing victim personal statement, Mr Walsh described the effects of the incident. He said: "I thought I was going to do a normal shift but it became the most terrifying night of my life. The image of the skull mask will be etched on my mind for the rest of my life.
"The firearm looked real. As far as I was concerned I had a loaded firearm pointed at my head by a man willing to shoot me for money. I was left with this scar on my lip forever when I look in the mirror. I posed (Wood) no threat, this man was in complete control. None of us attempted to argue with him or resist."
"Please don't rape me"
Another victim left traumatised was waitress Kerry Jackson, who was lowering the shutters of the Tipsy Monkey restaurant in Liverpool Road, Crosby, when masked men emerged from beneath the metal and shattered the glass doors. Ms Jackson was forced to her knees and the court heard how she begged the men not to hurt her and her colleague, bar manager Peter Smith.
She said: "I was petrified for my life. I told the men I have got two little girls, don't hurt us. All I could see was Peter trapped by the bar and thought 'god we're dead'.
"The money didn't even cross my mind. Crime affects people differently and I thought, please don't rape me in front of my colleague. I felt light headed, and like slow motion." Ms Jackson said for the next few days after the July 8 robbery she was unable to work, lost her voice, could not stop vomiting and was unable to drive because her legs were shaking so much.
She said: "I feel terrified going out at night, even going to the car at night scares me to death." Ms Jackson said she became so anxious at work she took to locking the last customers in the restaurant until they left.
Unable to cope with the stress, she has since resigned from the Tipsy Monkey. Another victim left feeling unable to stay in his job was Adam Fagan, a manager at Frankie & Benny's on Edge Lane. The Italian-American style chain was hit on June 27, when three masked men armed with machetes and knives burst in.
"I wondered whether he was willing to kill me for money"
Mr Fagan was struck in the face with the blunt side of a meat cleaver type weapon. He said: "I wondered whether he was willing to kill me for money, and I was worried about my staff. It felt like it lasted a life-time.
Mr Fagan has since left the city and says he thinks about the incident every day. He said: "Their actions made me put my life on hold for a year."
Another young woman left traumatised by her experiences was Claire O'Regan, owner of Sakara on Aigburth Road which was targeted by two members of the gang on June 18. She was shown on CCTV visibly jumping into the air in fear when she noticed a masked man bursting into the restaurant.
She was grabbed by the hand and led around as the robbers tried to find a safe. She said: "It isn't the first time I was the victim of armed robbery. I had pulled myself together after the first one but this robbery has shattered my confidence.
"I am always looking over my shoulder. I was alone in the bar when I saw a figure coming from under the shutter. I was petrified, and I thought not again." Ms O'Regan says her "instinct kicked in" and she grabbed a phone to call the police, leaving the handset on the counter for the 999 operator to hear.
But she says she has been left nervous and anxious by the attack. Other victims declined to make victim personal statements, but their experiences were undoubtedly traumatic.
"Screaming that he had kids"
Andrew Ford, prosecuting, described how Baris Coskuncay, owner of Al Dente on Lark Lane, barricaded himself in a toilet after Wood and two other hammer wielding thugs burst in after closing time. Mr Coskuncay was "screaming that he had kids at home" while the men tried to smash into the cubicle.
In another attack, Momosir Ali, owner of Aroma on Allerton Road, had an 18 inch machete held against his wrist and was told his hand would be cut off if he did not open the safe. Looking on in terror was Mr Ali's nine-year-old son. "
One victim, Tribeca pizza restaurant worker Stella McKerchar-Marion, suffered a panic attack as Wood and his colleagues forced her colleague to fill a bag with cash from the Smithdown Road venue's safe. Ms McKerchar-Marion became so upset one of the robbers had an outbreak of sympathy, saying: "Don’t worry, no one’s going to get hurt, you get paid, we get paid, do you know what I mean."
Digney, of Raynham Road, Old Swan; Wood, of Brookdale, Widnes, and Lacken, of Tudor Road North, Kensington, had all changed their pleas to guilty after initially denying conspiracy to commit robbery. The gang were collared by Merseyside Police after a Renault 4X4 car, rented by Digney in the name of her dead Grandad, was identified on CCTV near the sites of the robberies.
DNA evidence linked all three defendants to the vehicle, while trainers found by Wood's bed at his arrest were matched to a foot print left on a door at Frankie & Benny's. After the sentencing Judge Flewitt commended the bravery of the victims and the painstaking work of detectives for leaving the culprits with no choice but to plead guilty.
