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A gang of masked men who carried out a terrifying late-night raid on a travellers' site while armed with machetes and iron bars have been jailed for almost 202 years between them.

The 14 raiders terrorised their victims, including women, children and babies, as they demanded money at gunpoint.

A jury was told they had also equipped themselves with dust masks, reinforced tape, latex gloves, torches, cable ties and demolition bars bought from branches of B&Q and Poundland just hours before the raid.

Families were tied up and one couple was threatened with guns held to their heads while their six-year-old son, woken by the commotion, pleaded 'Daddy, please don't let them kill me'.

A father of seven was struck with a truncheon and handgun, before falling to the ground where he was kicked, beaten with a crowbar and baseball bat, and stabbed to his arm and thigh.

But the raiders were forced to flee almost empty-handed from Wheat Gratten Stable Yards in Lenham, near Maidstone, when the residents fought back.

They chased the raiders across field and rammed getaway vehicles, some of which were badly damaged and had to be abandoned at the scene.

Maidstone Crown Court heard during a series of trials that the stableyard, situated off a narrow country lane, was 'stormed' at about 11.30pm on April 26, 2016.

It was alleged the armed robbers also brandished a sawn-off shotgun and handgun.

A total of 17 men were later identified by police, with fourteen subsequently convicted and jailed for conspiracy to rob following a series of trials over two years.

Their sentences, ranging between nine years and 21 years imprisonment can now be reported following the jailing today (November 12) of the final raider, Junior Shawki Tamakloe, who was described as 'a critical player' in both organising and overseeing the raid.

(Image: Kent Live)

The 32-year-old from London pleaded guilty to conspiracy to rob and was jailed for 13-and-a-half years.

Previous sentencing hearings saw Aaron Mayers, 31, from Hackney, jailed for 16 years; Nana Danquah, also 31 and from Potters Bar, Hertfordshire, jailed for 18 years; Darren Myers, 33 and from Tunbridge Wells, jailed for 21 years; and Jake Jenks, 23, also from Tunbridge Wells, jailed for 14 years.

(Image: Kent Live) (Image: Kent Live) (Image: Kent Live) (Image: Kent Live)

Connor Miller, 21, also from Tunbridge Wells, was imprisoned for 13 years; Lee Baker, 29, from Eastbourne, was jailed for 12 years; Nyake Alieu, 33, also from Eastbourne, was jailed for 16 years; and 26-year-old Brady Dewson was jailed for 12 years.

(Image: Kent Live)

(Image: Kent Live)

(Image: Kent Live)

Ahmed Ali, 23, from London, was jailed for 13 years; Jheryl Long, 24, from London, was jailed for 16 years; Glenn Kenny, 25 and from Suffolk, was jailed for nine years and four months; and John Smillie, 25, from Walthamstow, and Faisal Issah, 24, from Tottenham, were each jailed for 14 years.

(Image: Kent Live) (Image: Kent Live) (Image: Kent Live)

(Image: Kent Live)

(Image: Kent Live)

None however were convicted of carrying a firearm and/or imitation firearm with intent.

Passing sentence, Judge Julian Smith said the 'mass attack' on the traveller site was 'bold, audacious, determined and exceptional', carried out in the hope of 'significant reward'.

One of the armed robbers himself spoke of the expectation of a 'life-changing' financial gain.

At the start of each trial, prosecutor Nina Ellin told the jury: "The masked men were dressed in dark clothing and armed with a variety of weapons including a sawn-off shotgun, a handgun, iron bars and a machete.

"They were demanding large sums of money at the point of a gun. They terrorised the occupants of the caravans which included women and young children and one man was brutally attacked.

"They tied up some of their victims with cable ties which they had brought with them ready for that purpose."

But the court heard the 'tables were turned' when the raiders themselves came under attack.

(Image: Kent Live)

"Other occupants sought to repel the attackers. Shots were fired, vehicles were rammed, and the attackers withdrew into the night," added Miss Ellin.

Police found four cars abandoned at the stableyard. Another, a gold Audi TT, was traced and the occupants arrested. Others were identified and arrested through DNA, fingerprints, mobile phone data, CCTV and automatic number plate recognition cameras.

The raid involved four 'teams' from London, Kent, Sussex and Essex coming together and 'converging' on the stableyard at the same time.

Miss Ellin said CCTV at a B&Q store in Tottenham, north London, and a Poundland branch in Tunbridge Wells, showed several gang members buying their 'equipment', while others carried out a reconnaissance of the site.

(Image: Kent Live)

Three men, Vincent Stickings, 31, from Thamesmead, south London, Kieon Barker, 24 and from Stoke Newington, and Irasto Yoxall, 32, from Bethnal Green, were cleared of any involvement.

Judge Smith said: "This offence was clearly the result of a good deal of planning - bold and audacious planning involving a mass attack on a traveller site by a group of armed, masked and determined attackers prepared to use significant force.

"The actions of the attackers were co-ordinated to achieve maximum impact for significant reward and the attackers were ready to use extreme force to achieve it.

"They believed themselves ready and able to subdue the residents with cable ties, weapons, threats and numbers. They expected large sums of money to be on that site."

Judge Smith added the raiders were also aware that their target would not be 'easily cowed into submission.

"Armed and disguised as they were, the group stormed the site, climbing over walls, charging through gates and attacking each caravan that they came to," he continued.

"But the fact the attack was probably unsuccessful has more to do with the response of the families on the site and their vigorous, and even desperate, response.

"The attackers were chased across fields in all directions to flee the scene and residents used their own vehicles to ram parked cars, disabling some of them and preventing escape.

"This is a case which can properly be described as exceptional."

The court heard the victims continue to suffer emotionally and physically, and it had led to some leaving their homes for good out of fear.

One described the impact as having 'broken up' the families sharing the stable yard.

The court heard Tamakloe has no previous convictions and is a 'volunteer and mentor' within his community, where he also cares for his ill mother.

Jailing him, Judge Smith said although he accepted the raid was not his 'brainchild', he had played a key role and provided a link between the teams in London and Kent.