Three women cleared over £53m heist

Kim Shackleton, 40, Raluca Millen, 27, and Katie Philp, 24, were girlfriends of Securitas robbers Stuart Royle, Jetmir Bucpapa and Lea Rusha.

They had faced an Old Bailey trial over their alleged roles in the planning and aftermath of the £53 million heist in Tonbridge, Kent, in February last year. But at a High Court hearing, Mr Justice Penry-Davey entered not guilty verdicts against them after David Jeremy QC, prosecuting, offered no evidence.

Millen, of Dudley Road, Tunbridge Wells, and Philp, of Hadlow Road, Tonbridge, had both been charged with conspiracy to rob, conspiracy to kidnap and conspiracy to possess firearms. Shackleton, of Allen Street, Maidstone, had been charged with assisting an offender.

Securitas robbers Rusha, Royle, Bucpapa and Roger Coutts were jailed indefinitely with minimum terms of 15 years at the Old Bailey in January. Inside man Emir Hysenaj, an employee at the depot, was given a 20-year sentence.

Jurors heard how Securitas manager Colin Dixon, his wife, Lynn, and their young child were kidnapped by the robbery gang to gain entry to the depot.

Neither Millen and Philp nor Shackleton have ever been accused of physically taking part in either the kidnap or robbery.

Mr Jeremy said that Philp's alleged role had been to buy make-up used for prosthetic disguises for the robbers, and to help apply it, as well as to provide a false alibi for her boyfriend, Rusha.

Shackleton, the court heard, was said to have helped dispose of cash cages taken from the Securitas depot.

Millen was accused of filming the Dixons' address in a reconnaissance of the property in Herne Bay, Kent.