SalfordOnline

A vicious gang who terrorised people across Greater Manchester, Lancashire and Cheshire have been jailed for a total of 51 years and nine months.

Operation Cyclone was set up by Greater Manchester Police in August 2007 after a series of burglaries where cars had been stolen and used in further burglaries and robberies, including a jewel heist where nearly £1m-worth of goods was stolen.

In July 2007 police disrupted an attempted armed robbery on a cash-in-transit van in Longsight.

Police followed the car and the offenders attempted to attack them by throwing machetes at the car. The video clip on the right shows how dangerous these men were, willing to attack police officers in pursuit. Joy and Downes later pleaded guilty to attempted robbery in relation to this offence.

Six cars were stolen during aggravated burglaries in Salford, Bury and Rochdale over a four-day period in August 2007.

Three of them where later seen in Poulton Le Fylde in Blackpool in an area where cash-in-transit deposits are made, and where there had been two recent attempts to rob them using stolen cars from Manchester on false plates. Police followed two of the stolen cars. One of them was abandoned and Ryan, Joy and Brownrigg were arrested.

The second car was followed by police in Preston and was also abandoned by three men. Vanden was identified as being one of the offenders and Madden was also forensically linked to clothing recovered. All five were charged with conspiracy to commit robbery.

Five cars were also stolen during burglaries in Bury, Salford and Rossendale in October 2007.
Officers working on Operation Cyclone then raided a flat on Green View, Broughton Green, where keys for a number of the stolen cars were recovered, along with balaclavas and gloves.

Three knives were also recovered from inside one of the stolen cars. The balaclavas and gloves recovered were forensically linked to Cox, Tymon, Madden and Vanden.



The offenders were sentenced on Thursday 18 December 2008 at Preston Crown Court after pleading guilty to their roles in the crime spree.

The charges relate to a total of 40 robberies and burglaries mainly across Greater Manchester and Lancashire.

Detective Chief Inspector Howard Millington led the investigation team, he said: “These men terrified the victims of these burglaries and in some cases did not hesitate to use violence to get what they wanted.

“Had it not been for the dedication and hard work of the officers working on Operation Cyclone they would clearly have gone on to hurt more people as their greed and criminality escalated.

“Greater Manchester Police has launched Operation Vanguard in a bid to reduce violent commercial robberies and we are committed to ensuring criminal gangs like these offenders are put behind bars where they belong.”

Nathan Vanden, born 06/11/89, of Rochdale Old Road, Bury, pleaded guilty to two counts of conspiracy to commit robbery and conspiracy to commit burglary. He has been sentenced to 11 years in prison. He also asked for 31 other offences to be taken into consideration, including high-value robberies, raiding a chemist for £7,500 and stealing almost £50,000 from a cash machine at a Spar shop in Bolton.

Louis Madden, born 12/05/88, of Chapel Rd Prestwich, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit robbery and conspiracy to commit burglary. He has been sentenced to 9 years in prison.

John Joseph Ryan, born 21/09/85, of Trafford Road, Salford, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit robbery and has been sentenced to 9 years in prison.

Anthony Joy, born 30/10/84, of Parish View, Salford, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit robbery and attempted robbery. He has been sentenced to 9 years in prison.

Louis Brownrigg, born 19/01/90, of Chapel Road, Prestwich, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit robbery and has been sentenced to four years and six months in a young offenders institution.

Michael Downes, born 17/08/87, of Carrsdale Road, Woodhouse Park, pleaded guilty to attempted robbery and has been sentenced to five years in prison.

Both Shane Tymon, born 12/09/88, of Sussex Street, Lower Broughton, and Craig Ryan Cox, born 01/04/89, of Hill Street, Salford, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit burglary and have been sentenced to two years and three months, and two years in prison, respectively.

Comment by lb  18th April 2011 yes yes you made men 4 life

Comment by 90 degree ears  10th April 2011 Charming collection of Salfords great and good, this does set a very strong case for compulsory sterilisation.

Comment by 666  10th April 2011 more scum off the streets

Comment by tom tweeny  10th April 2011 blimey!!!

Comment by garry gasgoine  10th April 2011 crikey!

Comment by Guest  9th January 2011 Ha ha.

Comment by Guest  8th January 2011 Take it off why?

Comment by Guest  8th January 2011 its time this was taken off

Comment by Guest  12th November 2010 L/b for lifeeeeeeeeeeeee

Comment by Guest  28th October 2010 get everything they deserve including a few choice comments on a local website. these people bring misery to their community and are just too lazy to get a job and work at life. its hard but most people seem to manage not to rob, burgle and attack people and wave machetes at the police

Comment by Guest  27th October 2010 thats my boyfriend thanks for the comment.not

Comment by Guest  17th September 2010 salford l/b 4 life

Comment by Guest  13th September 2010 yesssssssssssssssss i

Comment by Guest  27th June 2010 Coxy was an unsuccessful ram raider.He ran out of petrol whilst chasing a mobile shop !

Comment by Guest  9th June 2010 Ewww so ugly the lot of them!! dirty rotten scum!!

Comment by Guest  2nd May 2010 Anthony Joy should be put down under the Dangerous Dogs Act.He's got a head like a Pit Bull.

Comment by Guest  15th February 2010 a load of bullies & rapists

Comment by Guest  12th February 2010 gangsters my a--e one on one it would be laughable

Comment by Guest  12th February 2010 Handsome set of lads, ha ha ha

Comment by Guest  12th February 2010 salford gangsters cowards cheats and bullies

Comment by Guest  10th February 2010 Coxy's dad should be jailed for life for spawning Craig & the rest of his brothers. Don't rent from Kexgill !!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Comment by Guest  9th February 2010 more rat faced scum,get the rope for these inbreds

Comment by Guest  9th February 2010 go on boys u no that

Comment by Guest  22nd October 2009 Scum

Comment by Guest  17th October 2009 get the rope out

Comment by Guest  17th October 2009 What good are these people? They lead negative lives, dont want to do anything positive for society, more importantly, themselves. They should be euthanised. This is a far cheaper option than keeping them in prison & on state handouts for the rest of their lives. When I see bastards like these, I know there is a validity to abortion. Sick of Salford scum.

Comment by Guest  29th September 2009 yeah thanks for talking bout my cousin like this. Lovely people you are.

Comment by Guest  5th April 2009 yessss nowwwww hope there all okkk xxx

Comment by Guest  29th March 2009 go on craig back on road soon ha

Comment by Guest  25th March 2009 sik guys yes now baddddddd vidio

Comment by Guest  7th February 2009 go on lou bob

Comment by Guest  20th December 2008 What a charming looking bunch of thugs. Nine years and less is certainly insufficient for any of this lot. If they were all in it together they should all receive the same custodial sentence and it should be a lot more than nine years!