A MAN was today starting an 18-year jail sentence for kidnapping and robbing a Bolton postmaster and bank manager in two terrifying raids which netted more than £370,000.

Iain Colin Parkinson, aged 27, from Gerald Drive, Salford, hid in the boot of his victims' cars and jumped out as they drove to work.

He threatened them with a knife while another two robbers, one of whom was armed with a gun, drove them to their place of work and forced them to open the safes.

In the first robbery on January 31 last year, Parkinson abducted postmaster Terry Atherton and his wife as they made their way to Kearsley Sub Post Office where they stole £72,000.

Eights months later, on September 11, he sprung out of the boot of bank manager Janet Wild's car as she drove with a colleague to the Royal Bank of Scotland, in Little Lever.

As in the first robbery, a three-strong gang forced the terrified woman to open the safe and stole £300,000.

Parkinson had denied five counts of kidnapping, two counts of robbery and two counts of possessing a firearm.

But traces of his DNA were discovered in the back of Mrs Wild's car and tests showed there was a one in a billion chance of it belonging to anyone else.

Parkinson was arrested following a lengthy joint investigation by officers from Bolton and Salford, codenamed Operation Botany.

The jury of five women and seven men returned unanimous verdicts at Bolton Crown Court yesterday following the seven-day trial.

David Richard Cullen, aged 22, of Heaton Street, Salford, was found not guilty of all nine offences.

He had always claimed that he had been wrongly identified as taking part in the robbery and had not been involved.

Sentencing Parkinson, His Hon Judge Hope said: "The large sums of money have never been recovered.

"The manner of the operation clearly put the lives of people at risk -- in your case, you jumped out of the boot -- once on the motorway and once when someone was driving.

"The shock of that happening can hardly be calculated.

"There were threats that terrified the witnesses and an element of deterrent has to be incorporated into the sentence so as to make it clear to people that these kind of offences are not worth committing."

Family members and friends of the two defendants in the public gallery reacted angrily when the verdicts were read out.

Several shouted "he's not guilty", while others sobbed loudly.

Some members of the jury also broke down in tears.

Det Insp Andy Aston, from Bolton CID, said: "This was a highly sophisticated and motivated team of robbers.

"The detail of planning required for these robberies was extremely in depth, and the men carrying them out were very organised.

"They showed absolutely no thought whatsoever for their victims, all of whom are still affected by what happened to them."

He added: "I would like to praise the bravery of the witnesses who came forward and gave evidence in what are obviously extremely distressing circumstances.

"Their testimony has without doubt put a very dangerous man behind bars for a very long time."

Both Mrs Wild and Mr and Mrs Atherton declined to comment after the trial.

The court heard it was a normal working day for Janet Wild as she set off for the Royal Bank of Scotland, in Little Lever, on September 11 last year where she had worked for 18 months. Most people will remember the day for the terrorist attacks on America.

Nothing out of the ordinary happened that morning. The windows of her car were unusually steamed up but she did not think anything of it.

Mrs Wild took the same route to the bank every day and picked up her colleague Kirsty Johnson on the way.

Just minutes into their journey, the two women were terrified when they heard a loud bang.

Parkinson burst through the parcel shelf from the boot of the Nissan Micra brandishing a knife.

It was the start of a terrifying ordeal for the bank employees which was to last more than an hour.

For Mrs Wild, it was every bank manager's worst nightmare.

She was so startled by the knifeman that she momentarily lost control of the vehicle and mounted the pavement.

Luckily her quick-thinking passenger grabbed hold of the wheel and they narrowly avoided hitting a wall.

Parkinson climbed into the back seat, forced himself between the two women and ordered them to stop the car.

Frantically, Mrs Wild started beeping her horn trying to raise the alarm but to no avail.

Two taxi drivers chatting in the car park of Breightmet Labour Club in Milnthorpe Road had seen the swerving car but thought it was a road rage incident.

Seconds later, a second robber leapt from a Ford Galaxy which had pulled in front of them and ran over to the car.

Wearing a black wig and false beard, he threatened the women with a black handgun at them and bundled them into the back seat.

A short distance away, the women were transferred to the people carrier and driven to the bank.

The gun man escorted Mrs Wild to the bank and ordered her to turn off the alarm.

Becoming more and more agitated, he threatened to shoot her if she didn't hurry up.

Mrs Wild needed two sets of keys to open the bank safe. She had a pair and cashier Nanouk Harper had the other. She panicked because she feared the gunman would not believe her and think she was just playing for time.

As she waited at the door for Mr Harper to arrive, another employee arrived for work - unaware of what was going on inside.

When the gunman was not looking and without concern for her own safety, Mrs Wild gestured her colleague away.

Puzzled by what was going on, the cashier drove away and called the bank from her mobile.

As she answered the phone, the gunman held the weapon to Mrs Wild's face and listened in to the conversation.

When asked why she had waved her away, the manager quickly hung up the phone.

But it was too late. The gunman realised what she had done and punched her several times in the face.

He became more and more angry and repeatedly threatened to shoot Mrs Wild.

At that point, she thought she was going to die.

Before fleeing the bank, the gunman removed the CCTV security video and with the help of Parkinson and the other robber, he stuffed more than £300,000 into bags.

Mrs Wild was taken back to the Ford Galaxy where she was tied up along with her two colleagues.

The shocked and frightened hostages were driven to the entrance to Moses Gate Country Park where the vehicle was dumped, all three left inside.

For a few seconds, they were too scared to move.

Eventually, Miss Johnson ran screaming for help.

A woman walking her dog nearby saw three men change their clothing before they ran off carrying polythene bags.

She did not see the men's faces but as she went to phone the police, she saw Mrs Wild running from the Galaxy with her hands tied in front of her.

The bank robbery was almost a carbon copy of a previous attack carried out by the gang eight months earlier.

It was after this first successful raid, that Parkinson and the other gang members decided to plan another robbery at the Little Lever bank.

Both robberies were meticulously planned.

Timing was crucial and the gang observed the victims' home addresses and places of work to see what time they came and went.

In the first robbery, postmaster James Atherton and his wife Carol had set off for Kearsley Sub Post Office on January 31 last year as they had done for the last 11 years.

The couple noticed an unpleasant smell in their Volkswagon Polo and the windows were steamed up.

While Mr Atherton turned up the blower to clear them, his wife opened a new air freshener and they set off .

He also noticed that the car felt heavy at the back but just assumed that his tyres needed some air.

As they drove along the M61, they noticed a fawn coloured car driving too slowly.

Mr Atherton had just overtaken the vehicle when Parkinson armed with a knife suddenly emerged from the hatchback area of the car.

He ordered them to pull on to the hard shoulder where a second car pulled in front.

As with the bank robbery, a man, carrying a handgun, took over the driving of the Polo and headed towards the post office.

At first, the robbers wanted to take Mrs Atherton into the shop.

Desperate to protect his terrified wife, Mr Atherton told the gang that she didn't know how to use the alarm.

While he was forced to open the safe, Mrs Atherton was driven around for several minutes by the third robber.

The gang escaped with £72,000 and locked the couple inside the Post Office.

They were eventually freed by an employee who arrived for work 15 minutes later.

Police are continuing to investigate the incident.