G4S Cash Services (UK) (‘G4S’) hailed the latest success of SmartWater in helping to secure the convictions of a ‘Fagin-style’ cash in transit robber and his gang.
James Sorhaindo, 31, was sentenced to nine years in prison, at Snaresbrook Crown Court on Monday, May 11 for orchestrating the raid, which took place at the Esso garage in Lea Bridge Road, Leyton. The other six members of the gang, including a 15-year old, two 16-year olds, a 17-year old, and an 18-year old, have also been sentenced, bringing the total number of years handed out in court to 37.
The case against the gang was aided by forensic evidence from SmartWater, which enables police to link an offender to a specific attack. Criminals who break into a G4S cashbox unavoidably become contaminated by SmartWater, which cannot be seen by the naked eye and remains traceable for up to six months.
G4S introduced SmartWater to its operations in London in October 2007, since when the number of CIT robberies it has suffered in London has reduced by 24 per cent. In March of this year G4S significantly extended its deployment of SmartWater to ATM cashboxes, a national initiative which was launched in North London.
High Gilmour, Regional Risk Director, G4S Cash Services (UK), said: “We welcome this sentence, which sends out a strong message to those considering attacking a CIT courier in the area. The deployment of SmartWater is proving to be a major deterrent to those considering attacking our couriers. With an impressive 100pc conviction rate in cases where it has been used as part of the evidence in a court of law, this technology has already helped to reduce the overall level of attacks since we started using it.
“The partnership with SmartWater is just one of several proactive initiatives we are taking in association with police forces and other key stakeholders such as the British Security Industry Association (BSIA), the GMB union, banks and retailers to curtail the number of attacks taking place on the CIT industry.”
Phil Cleary, CEO of SmartWater said, “Since its introduction into the CIT sector, SmartWater evidence has been included in many criminal investigations, and to date SmartWater has had a 100% conviction success rate.”
The CIT industry is the security firm says vital to the economic liquidity of the UK where cash remains the consumer’s preferred method of payment. Each year the CIT industry transports around £500 billion, equivalent to £1.4 billion per day, by around 8,000 couriers using a fleet of some 4,000 vehicles.
