The head of a prolific gang of armed robbers was shot dead by police as he pointed a gun at the head of a security guard, a court was told yesterday.

Mark Nunes stole £500,000 as the leader of a criminal network that carried out at least 18 raids on armoured vans delivering cash to high street banks.

A meticulous planner, Nunes masterminded an 18-month run of robberies across southern England, from Ipswich and Cambridge in the East to Bristol and Bath in the West.

But Kingston upon Thames Crown Court was told that his “luck ran out” on September 13 last year when he tried to hold up a Group 4 van outside the HSBC branch in the Hampshire town of Chandler’s Ford.

Nunes, 35, and his associate Andrew Markland, 36, were being watched by covert police teams as they attempted to snatch the guard’s cash box.

“Nunes was seen to run from the side of the bank with a pistol and he pointed that pistol at the head of the guard,” said Brendan Kelly, QC, for the prosecution. “As he did that, Nunes was shot and killed. Markland was with Nunes. He sought to pick the gun up. He too was shot dead.”

When the gun used by Nunes was later recovered it was found to be “fully loaded and ready to fire”.

Mr Kelly said that a third alleged member of the robbery team, Terence Wallace, escaped in a blue Volvo that had been stolen and parked nearby. He was tracked by police as he made his way back to South London, where the gang was based, and made contact with other members.

Tracing Wallace’s movements was made easier because he was wearing a replica England football shirt with the number 6 and the surname of the captain John Terry on his back. CCTV images of Wallace wearing the shirt at Basingstoke and Clapham Junction railway stations and outside Nunes’s flat in Brixton were shown to the jury.

Nunes and his associates “knew their trade”, Mr Kelly said. The raids on security vans, known as cash-in-transit robberies, were carried out only after extensive reconnaissance. Mr Kelly said: “Nunes was successful and his success was because of the meticulous planning he carried out. He would carry out three, four, five or six visits to make sure the target was suitable: a high street bank, not in a city centre, often with an alleyway alongside for a getaway.”

The gang used large numbers of mobile phones, always on pay-as-you-go tariffs, which would be dumped after each job. The phones were always turned off in the hours immediately before and after a raid.

Typically several cars would be in use — one to drive the robbers to the scene and a couple of getaway vehicles. The first escape car would be driven for a mile or less before being abandoned for a second vehicle parked farther from the robbery scene. The cars had usually been stolen months before and were fitted with false registration plates.

The first raid linked to the gang took place in April 2006 when £25,000 was stolen from a Group 4 van delivering cash to a NatWest bank in Wells Road, Bristol. A month later they returned to the Bristol suburbs and took £165,000 from a Securicor guard who was beaten with a pistol outside a Lloyds TSB branch.

The robbers were usually black men wearing featureless clothing and hoods, helmets or other head coverings. Witnesses were unable to provide distinctive descriptions.

But the Metropolitan Police was building up a dossier on the raids and by the summer of 2007 had Nunes under surveillance as prime suspect. He was monitored as he carried out reconnaissance in Chandler’s Ford in July and August. Mr Kelly said: “Despite their skill, their planning and their patience — their luck ran out. Police had identified at least some of the culprits and once identified they were followed. They needed to be followed.”

Wallace, 26, and three other alleged members of the robbery gang — Adrian Johnson, 28, Leroy Wilkinson, 29, and Victor Iniodu, 34, — deny conspiracy to rob. Johnson also denies possessing prohibited weapons and stealing a cash box containing £25,000. The court heard that before the trial three men, Leroy Hall, Leon McKenzie and Brian Henry, had pleaded guilty to being part of the conspiracy led by Nunes.

The trial continues.

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