A GANG of criminals known as the Mustard Mob has been jailed for more than 16 years between them after North Yorkshire Police uncovered their international web of crime.

The five Glaswegians are believed to have earned their nickname because police reluctantly regarded them as “red hot” at their job.

The raiders hit stores in England, including ones in Selby, Filey and Whitby, York Crown Court heard.

Edward Bindloss, prosecuting, said three members of the gang went on to continue their till-emptying operations in Basle, Switzerland, until police there caught them and locked them up.

On their return to the UK, David Proctor, 44, Terence Allison, 52, and James McKeown, 48, were arrested and brought to York to join up with fellow conspirators John McNeil, 52, and David Macenhill, 45, to answer for 15 raids in North Yorkshire, northern England, Merseyside and Leicestershire committed between September 1, 2007, and June 20, 2008.

“All five of you are thoroughly dishonest. You are in my judgement professional criminals,” the Recorder of York, Judge Stephen Ashurst, told them.

Mr Bindloss said members of the gang got away with £1,500 from the Boots store in Selby on December 19, 2007, £380 from Mills in Filey on January 10, 2008, and £329 from a Co-op store in Whitby in September 2007. On each occasion, some of the gang blocked the view of a cashier while their accomplice emptied a nearby unoccupied till.

All five admitted conspiracy to steal and have numerous previous convictions for theft including some together for similar till-emptying operations. Proctor, of Collina Street, Glasgow, and Allison, of Whiting Road, Wemyss Bay, Glasgow, were each jailed for four years. McKeown, of Woodfield Road, Nottingham, previously of Glasgow, was jailed for three years and nine months.

Macenhill, of Linzie Terrace, Glasgow, was jailed for 18 months. He had already served two years for two of the raids. McNeil, of Bilsland Drive, Glasgow, was jailed for three years.