Two in £53m Securitas raid in Kent lose appeal
Two members of a gang jailed for their part in stealing £53m in Britain's biggest cash robbery have failed in bids to overturn their convictions.
The Court of Appeal refused Lea Rusha, 37, and Jetmir Bucpapa, 28, leave to appeal against their convictions.
Both were jailed for a minimum of 15 years in January 2008 for their part in the robbery at the Securitas depot in Tonbridge, Kent in February 2006.
Three judges said the offence for which they were convicted was notorious.
The Securitas gang kidnapped depot manager Colin Dixon, his wife Lynn and their young child and held them hostage while they robbed the premises.
Heavily-armed robbers trussed up 14 terrified employees with cable ties and threatened to kill them if they disobeyed orders.
Rusha and Bucpapa were among five men convicted on kidnap, robbery and firearms charges in 2008.
Rusha, a kick boxer and former roofer, of Lambersart Close, Southborough, Kent, was originally given an indeterminate sentence and told he would serve at least 15 years.
Bucpapa, of Hadlow Road, Tonbridge, received the same sentence.
On Thursday, the judges also dismissed an appeal against sentence by Rusha.
However, they allowed a challenge by Bucpapa "in part" by quashing his indeterminate 15-year sentence - but replaced it with a determinate sentence of 30 years' imprisonment.
Another man was jailed in Morocco in June for his part in the Securitas robbery.
Cage fighter Lee Murray, originally from south London, the "mastermind" of the raid, was sentenced to 10 years in the north African country.
He fled abroad after the robbery and could not be extradited because he is a Moroccan national.
Murray's best friend and fellow cage fighter, Paul Allen, from Chatham, Kent was jailed for 18 years in October 2009.