FIVE members of the Johnson clan have been jailed for nearly

50 years for the largest domestic burglary ever staged in

Britain.

They smashed their way into millionaire recluse Harry Hyams'

Ramsbury Manor House, Wiltshire, in 2006 and in 10 minutes made

off with antiques, jewellery and china worth about £80

million.

They also plundered a dozen more of the country's finest

stately homes over a year, rocking the landed gentry and

fine-art world to its foundations.

Reporting restrictions meant details of the five-week trial

held in January could not be published until now.

It took the jury three days to return a guilty verdict on

all five defendants on February 11.

Ricky Johnson, 53, was jailed for eight years. His son Chad,

32, was jailed for 11 years and son Albi, 26, for nine

years.

Ricky's nephew, Danny O'Loughlin, 32, and his son-in-law

Michael Nicholls, 28, were jailed for 11 years and 10 years

respectively.

All were found to be involved in a conspiracy to burgle

isolated stately homes, country houses and shops between April

2005 and April 2006 in heists which netted art works and

antiques worth more than £80 million.

The sentences were greeted with screams, sobs and tears from

the public gallery at Reading Crown Court where a rabble of

wives, girlfriends and family members were crammed onto the

benches to hear the verdict.

Partner to Chad and mother to his four children, Carly Gill,

screamed abuse at the top of her lungs as the jury returned

guilty verdicts.

Six police officers were drafted into court to keep the

peace as proceedings threatened to descend into chaos.

The well-executed conspiracy included 13 burglaries from

private homes and three shops. Whilst their loot included some

of the finest artwork in the world, there was nothing refined

about the Johnsons' methods.

They smashed downstairs windows and doors with metal spikes,

garden ornaments and crowbars to gain entry to the country

homes.

Sometimes they rammed the doors with stolen 4X4s. They

ransacked the property – often with the occupants still at

home.

Their biggest heist was at Ramsbury Manor. They staked out

the mansion with binoculars a few weeks before. Then at 10.30pm

on February 1, 2006 the balaclava-clad gang smashed their way

through a downstairs window with a wooden fence post.

Crown Prosecutor Paul Reid said: "The house has a

substantial collection of art and antiquities dating back to

the 17th century.

"This has been described as the most valued domestic

burglary ever committed in this country. The collection is

priceless."

The 10-minute heist destroyed one of the finest private

collections of art and antiquities in the country, belonging to

Harry Hyams.

Thieves ignored the shrill pitch of the alarm to steal

jewellery, clocks, boxes, antiques, china and porcelain. They

threw the artefacts into the boot of their stolen car and

escaped across the fields.

An employee confronted a masked man in the hall, then ran

upstairs to phone police.

In a statement read to the court Anthony Murrin, who has

been Harry Hyams' chauffeur for 35 years, said: "I was in my

room upstairs watching television when the alarm sounded at

around 10.30pm," he said.

"As I was walking down the stairs I saw a man in the hall.

He suddenly jerked his head and said something to someone else.

I rang the other staff to tell them this was not a false alarm

and we had intruders."

By the time the police arrived the gang was long gone.

A third of the stolen property was later recovered from a

purpose-built bunker in Black Hill, near Stratford-upon-Avon,

in a field owned by John Lee, father of Johnson associate

Charlie Lee.

Priceless porcelain plates, jugs, cups and bowls were found

in boxes and dustbins covered in straw. The entrance was

concealed by a trapdoor in a field next to the A439.

Phone records put O'Loughlin near Ramsbury Manor at the time

of the burglary and the following day at the site of the

loot.

In another raid, the court was told the gang lay siege to

Ramsbury Hill House, near Marlborough, on October 21, 2005

while the occupants sat in the kitchen.

The burglars stole £26,000 of jewellery and antiques from

the drawing room of the Georgian stately home – just 20 metres

from the kitchen where a married couple was having dinner.

At least four looters rummaged through drawers and

cupboards. They used pillowcases from an upstairs bedroom to

escape with their haul.

Julia Blunt lives in the three-storey home with her husband,

who has Parkinson's disease.

In a statement read to the court, she said: "The impact of

this burglary on me and my husband has been terrible," she

said.

The gang of five men dressed in black smashed a drawing room

window, used a cushion to prop open the door and searched

bedrooms.

Witnesses reported seeing the gang jump over a wall at the

back of the house and escape in a silver Subaru estate.

A man matching Ricky Johnson's description was in the

driver's seat before at least three more men jumped over the

wall bringing a basket with them.

They sped off down the road with one gang member clinging to

the back of the vehicle. The gang wore balaclavas and covered

their faces with scarves when they carried out their raids, and

used high-powered cars and 4X4s to escape.

Cars were either bought specifically for the heists or

stolen-to-order. Many were found burnt out. Others were sold

on.

Prosecuting for the Crown, Paul Reid said: "It is not just

these five men involved in these plots. This is a fairly

extensive and highly organised gang. The gang are ruthless in

their intention to acquire high-value property from, in the

main, country houses and three commercial properties.

"These five men are members of the same extended family

which are collectively known as the Johnsons."

The trial heard how Albi Johnson broke both his legs after a

burglary at The Manor, Stanton Harcourt, Oxfordshire, on

November 16, 2005.

He nearly got caught and jumped from an upstairs window.

Albi told the court he was injured falling from his mother's

garden roof in St Paul's Parade, Cheltenham. But medical

records showed he told doctors he fell from a roof mending a

satellite dish.

The car used in the heist – which netted the gang £50,000 of

porcelain and artefacts – was later seen dropping him off at

Cheltenham General Hospital.

Illiterate Albi needed help from his legal team and the

court usher as he struggled to understand documents put before

him.

"I know what happened and I know where I broke my leg," he

said.

"I don't know why I said I fell fixing a satellite dish.

"I would have told them I fell from a helicopter if I

thought they would have given me something for the pain."

Not much of the stolen loot has been recovered.

Antiques from a burglary at Woolley Park House,

Chaddleworth, Berkshire, on April 2005 was found in bins at

Signell Hill, near Burford.

Stolen flat-screen televisions, cutlery and jewellery were

found on the Johnsons' campsite during a raid in October 2005,

near Chad Johnson's caravan, which he shares with partner Carly

Gill.

More than £12,000 of porcelain was stolen from the Treasure

Trove china shop in Broadway on July 29, 2005.

Items included Royal Crown Derby jugs, bowls, plates and a

rare Waterford Crystal lamp. Two broken porcelain figurines

were found in a bush by a canal that runs along the rear of the

Johnson caravan site in Cleeve Prior.

The pieces, worth up to £200 each, had Treasure Trove price

stickers on the bottom. Edward Smith, manager of Robert Welch

Studios in Chipping Campden, also fell prey to the gang when

his shop was raided at 4.30am on October 1, 2005 by a gang of

at least three men.

"They entered through the front door using a heavy

implement," said Mr Smith.

"There was a large wooden stake found in the shop. The

burglars removed the safe.

"You could see the grooves in the floor where they dragged

it through the shop. There were a variety of items stolen but

mainly items from a silver cabinet. The total value was in the

region of £120,000."

Eye-witness statements read to the jury told how the masked

gang loaded cutlery, pots and pans into high-powered

Subarus.

A month later, the Johnsons struck at a caravan park in

Tenby Wells, Worcestershire on November 11, 2005.

The jury was told they clubbed the family's German Shepherd

dog then took a collection of Royal Crown Derby china, which

had taken Rachel and Harry Lee ten years to accumulate.

Other items stolen included vases, clocks, ornaments, jugs,

plates, figurines, diamond rings and designer handbags.

Police spotted a car thought to have been used in the

burglary and gave chase.

The Johnsons pelted them with stones as they raced through

Cheltenham. An officer tried to stop the high-powered car

outside Danny O'Loughlin's sister's house in Scholars Court,

Cheltenham, but the five-strong gang got away.

When it came to the case for the defence in the five-week

trial, only Albi Johnson and O'Loughlin were willing to take

the stand in a bid to clear their name.

Chad, Nicholls and Ricky declined to give evidence.

Wearing a blue jumper and jeans and speaking in a

high-pitched drawl, O'Loughlin denied carrying out research to

sell on stolen goods.

He said 40 antique books found at his mum's Cheltenham home

were hers and it was a co-incidence his phone was used at the

time the Ramsbury Manor heist was carried out.

He told the trial he was collecting his son Danny from a

Berkshire caravan site on the night of the £80 million raid

which is why his phone was used nearby.

He admitted being a thief and said he regularly stole metal

from skips and scrap merchants but denied being part of a gang

which burgled stately homes.

There were mutterings from the public gallery as a bemused

Albi Johnson took the stand. He leafed through documents before

confessing he was illiterate and struggled with long words.

He said he had nothing to do with the heists and denied

leaping from an 18ft window at Stanton Harcourt after he was

confronted in an upstairs bedroom.

Sentencing the gang, Judge Christopher Critchlow said the

group had an unparalleled disregard for the law and people's

rights and the severity of the crimes meant he was duty bound

to hand out lengthy sentences.

He said: "These crimes had an effect on people. To find a

man in your home with a crowbar and wearing a balaclava and

only slits for eyes and a mouth has a huge impact. That was

you, Albi Johnson.

"This must be one of the most serious cases of burglary ever

to come before the court.

"Aggravating features include the burglaries being staged at

night. They were at isolated homes and people were often at

home.

"They were well planned and executed. They were

sophisticated and you wore masks and balaclavas. Very little

has been recovered, no doubt hidden in the countryside or

passed on for disposal.

"This behaviour must result in heavy sentences.

"I am quite sure that all of you were involved.

"You are a lawless group with no respect for people or the

law and you did not care what role you played."

On receiving his sentence a shocked looking Ricky Johnson

pleaded with the judge.

Wearing black tracksuit bottoms and a lime green jumper, he

said; "Your honour this is wrong. We did not do these

burglaries."

Albi Johnson told his family not to worry and that it was no

problem, before following his father, brother and two cousins

to the cells.

Chad Johnson sat with his head in his hands while O'Loughlin

shook his head at the jury.

The game was well and truly up.