Four Face Wait Over £1.7m Robbery Appeal

Four men convicted of involvement in a £1.7 million Heathrow warehouse heist in an historic trial without a jury will have to wait to find out if their appeals against conviction have been allowed.

Court of Appeal judges today reserved judgment in the appeal held at the Old Bailey.

The Lord Chief Justice, Lord Judge, sitting with Mrs Justice Rafferty and Mr Justice Roderick Evans, said:

"We wish to take time to consider our decision.''

John Twomey, Peter Blake, Barry Hibberd and Glenn Cameron argued that their convictions were "unlawful'' and "unsafe''.

They were convicted in March by a judge at the Old Bailey in relation to an armed robbery at the warehouse in February 2004.

It was the first serious criminal trial to be held without a jury in England and Wales.

There had been three abortive attempts to try the case with a jury at a cost of an estimated £25 million.

At the end of the fourth trial, Mr Justice Treacy passed guilty verdicts on Twomey, 62, of New Milton, Hampshire; Blake, 58, of Notting Hill, west London; Hibberd, 43, of Shepherds Bush, west London; and Cameron, 51, of New Milton, Hampshire.

Twomey was sentenced to 20 years and six months. Blake was jailed for life with a minimum term of 10 years and nine months.

Cameron and Hibberd were sentenced to 15 years and 17 years and six months respectively.