Make-up artist who shopped Securitas gang is in hiding as a £7m bounty is put on her life

The make-up artist who helped disguise the £53million Securitas robbers and then gave evidence against them has had a £7million bounty placed on her head, it emerged last night.

Hairdresser Michelle Hogg was originally charged with other members of the gang over her part in Britain's biggest cash robbery.

But halfway through the trial, she turned Queen's evidence.

In return for charges against her being dropped, she identified the men she had provided with make-up and prosthetic masks.

Miss Hogg, from Plumstead, South East London, was put into the witness protection scheme and has been given a new identity and moved away from friends and family to another part of the country.

Yesterday, as five men were jailed at the Old Bailey for the raid on a Securitas depot, it was revealed that gang members still on the run have put the £7million bounty on her life.

"She will not be able to sleep at night for quite some time," said one police source.

"She is quite literally petrified and in fear of her life.

"She was incredibly frail during and after the trial. She is in a much worse state now."

Miss Hogg, 33, is the daughter of former Metropolitan Police officer Jeffrey Hogg.

He and her godfather - also a former police officer - are thought to have persuaded her to turn against the robbers.

Before she decided to become a prosecution witness, she cut a nervous and worried figure at court.

It is understood from police sources that she had suffered a minor breakdown in the weeks leading to the trial.

The men jailed yesterday after being found guilty on Monday were all involved in the early-morning raid on the depot in Tonbridge, Kent, in February 2006.

The gang had earlier kidnapped depot manager Colin Dixon, his wife Lynn and their seven-year-old child at gunpoint and used them to gain entry to the building.

The court heard that Miss Hogg had been given £400 to buy the necessary hair, make-up and latex to make masks for the gang.

Originally, when interviewed by police, she claimed that she did not know that a robbery was being planned.

However, in the weeks leading up to the raid she made at least four masks and regularly "touched up" her make-up work as the day of the robbery approached.

Miss Hogg studied theatrical make-up at the London College of Fashion and had worked on the cosmetics counters in Harvey Nichols and Selfridges.

Police arrested her 24 hours after the robbery following a tip-off and found the leftover products of her work in a bin.

As officers led her from her flat in tears, she said she and her family would be in danger if she said anything.

She later told police: "I would like to assist the police further so I could establish my innocence but I am terrified as to what might happen to me and my family if I say too much.

"I do not think the police could protect me or my family from harm."

She changed her mind at the last minute, her evidence proving pivotal in securing the convictions.

Four of the five men jailed yesterday were given indeterminate sentences for the protection of the public.

Lea Rusha, Stuart Royle, Jetmir Bucpapa and Roger Coutts were told they would serve at least 15 years before being eligible for parole.

Kick-boxer Rusha, 35, from Southborough, car salesman Royle, 49, from Maidstone, Albanian Bucpapa, 26, from Tonbridge, all Kent, and garage owner Coutts, 30, from Welling, South-East London, were convicted of conspiracy to kidnap, rob and firearms offences.

Albanian Emir Hysenaj, 28, from Crowborough, East Sussex, who was described as the "inside man" as he worked at the depot, was jailed for 20 years on the same charges and told he would serve at least ten.

The court heard that Bucpapa and Hysenaj were originally illegal immigrants into Britain and then "overstayers".

Trial judge Mr Justice Penry-Davey said he would be recommending them for deportation after they had served their sentences.