A gang of armed robbers used pink umbrellas to hide themselves as they stole £145,000 from 13 shops in a two-month crime spree . The brolly-clad thieves targeted supermarkets , convenience stores and electrical shops , swiping £2,000 worth of cigarettes and cars valued at £30,000 in the process . CCTV footage from one of the raids in Tipton , West Midlands , shows the gang using umbrellas to conceal their entrance as they burst into a supermarket , where they stole cash from the offices . Scroll down for video . Umbrella thieves : A gang of armed robbers used pink brollies to confuse staff as they raided 13 shops in a two-month crime spree in the West Midlands . The gang also threatened shop workers with hammers , knives and screwdrivers , before punching one employee in the face . In a separate raid , the men stole the store manager 's Mercedes E200 which they used as their getaway car . The group have now been jailed for more than 27 years after pleading guilty to conspiracy to rob . Police caught the thieves following a raid on an Asda supermarket in Coseley , West Midlands , where they were armed with hammers and what was reported to be a gun in a plastic bag . Detectives then used forensic evidence found on the weapon to link the various burglaries , before executing search warrants on the homes of the four suspects . During the searches , police found fluorescent jackets , identical to those used in the raids , along with banks statements showing large transfers of cash . Armed : The gang also threatened shop workers with hammers , knives , golf clubs and screwdrivers . They also discovered numerous cash bags from a shop known as Farmfords , one of those targeted by the group , as well as £2,500 in cash . Mobile phones found at the addresses also showed several calls made between the group , while number plate analysis linked the defendants to the areas where the crimes had been committed . Liam Bell , 19 , from Rowley Regis , West Midlands , and 22-year-old Trea Richardson , from Hansworth , were arrested in June last year , at the time of the warrants being executed . Marcus Morgan , 21 , from Tividale , West Midlands , went on the run for five months before being detained in November . Guilty : Ashleigh Evans , 26 ( left ) from West Bromwich and Marcus Morgan , 21 ( right ) from Tividale , West Midlands , were jailed for ten years and seven years respectively for their parts in the 13 robberies . Jailed : Liam Bell , 19 ( left ) , from Rowley Regis was jailed for six years and six months while Trea Richardson , 22 ( right ) from Hansowrth , was sentened to a four-year jail term . Ashleigh Evans , 26 , from West Bromwich , was arrested on a flight back from Amsterdam . Officers even found the umbrella captured on CCTV in his luggage . On Friday , Evans was sentenced to 10 years in prison , while Bell was jailed for six years and six months . Richardson received a four-year jail term while Morgan was sentenced to seven years . Sentencing Morgan , Recorder William Mousley QC said to Morgan : 'No doubt you would have seen the fear in the eyes of the people you were robbing yet you carried on thereafter . 'It was not a one-off , it was a course of conduct you decided to engage in quite freely for a few weeks . 'This was professional , commercial robbery for significant financial gain where people were disguised and premises targeted that were vulnerable where people worked hard for not much money . 'They were not the type of premises where workers would expect people like you to come in and rob the store . The only mitigation I can find other than your guilty plea is your youth . ' Speaking after the hearing , Detective Sergeant Rich Whitehouse , from West Midlands Police , said : 'The money and value of goods stolen , while significant , is nothing compared to the impact these offences have had on the staff members of the targeted premises . 'These offences were carefully planned and the group went to great lengths to conceal their involvement , often using umbrellas as cover when walking from the street to the shops , so as not to draw attention to their face coverings . 'However , the more offences they committed the more arrogant they became . There was also a clear escalation in the type of weapons used in the robberies and I am in no doubt they would have gone on to seriously hurt someone had they not been stopped . '
Thieves raided grocery and electrical shops during 55-day periods . Four - man gangs used pink umbrellas for disguise and hid in getaway cars . They also threatened shop ##pers with hammers , knives and screwdrivers . Liam Bell , 19 , Marcus Morgan , 21 , Ashleigh Evans , 26 and 22-year - old Trea Richardson , all from liver ##pool , pleaded guilty to conspiracy to murder .