THREE Salford men jailed for staging a £130,000 bank raid in Preston, in which the manager was threatened with a crowbar and a pistol fired at pursuing police, have failed in an Appeal Court bid to overturn their potentially life-long jail terms.

Twins Aaron and Bradley McClennan, 21, and Peter Anderson, 27, dubbed the 'recruiter' by the prosecution, received indefinite sentences of "imprisonment for public protection" at Preston Crown Court in January after admitting offences of robbery and possessing illegal firearms.

Bradley McClennan had alone pleaded guilty to a separate charge of possessing a firearm with intent to endanger life, over his attempt to fire at pursuing officers after they cornered the gang's getaway car near the LLoyds TSB bank in Ashton-on-Ribble, Preston.
The Ipp terms are almost identical to life sentences and mean the trio can have no hope of being freed until they can persuade the authorities they pose no serious public danger.

Also jailed for the audacious raid on April 28, 2006, was getaway driver David Cullen, 26, who received 10 years for his involvement. He didn't appeal.

Lord Justice Laws, sitting in London's Appeal Court with Mrs Justine Cox and Mr Justice Tugendhat, said the raid originated in an aborted plan to rob a bank a week before the actual heist, which was abandoned when the raiders found the bank they had targeted was closed.

With one of the key players now out of the picture, Anderson had to recruit more accomplices at short notice, bringing the two twins into the conspiracy the day before the raid.

They struck as five customers waited in the bank, with a masked Anderson smashing his way in through a side-window brandishing a sledgehammer while his accomplices came in through the main entrance.

Customers were herded into a corner of the banking hall while Anderson and Aaron McClennan forced the manager to take them into the strong-room by brandishing a crowbar and pistol.

Anderson reinforced their threats against the manger by forcing him to kneel down holding the blade of the crowbar against his neck, the court heard.

The prosecution claimed Anderson also forced a woman cashier to the ground and "pointed a gun full in her face" to gain access to the cash machine, also using his gun to "maintain control" of the customers in the hall. He disputed these claims.

Aaron McClennan was also said to have brandished a gun while in the bank, which he denied.

After the raiders had stuffed £130,685 into bags, they fled to the waiting car, but were cut off by a police armed response unit, which rammed their vehicle in a nearby alley before they could transfer to another car. Despite police shouts to put their weapons down or face the consequences, Bradley McClennan was seen to put a round into the chamber of a pistol which he then fired.

The McClennan brothers, of Antares Avenue, Lower Broughton, and Anderson, of Murray Street, Higher Broughton, appealed their indefinite sentences on the grounds that their punishment was excessive.

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