A G4S security guard has been found guilty of conspiracy to rob his colleagues at banks including Santander in Ramsbottom.

At Manchester Crown Court Thomas Keane was convicted by a jury of conspiring to steal at total of £167,000 in two armed robberies and one attempted robbery at banks across Greater Manchester.

At 7.30pm on April 3 last year masked and armed men smashed their way through the glass door at the Santander bank on Bolton Street, Ramsbottom.

They made their escape in a stolen car with £42,000. But the car was then involved in a road accident with a Land Rover, the getaway driver was unable to restart the engine and the four men fled on foot leaving various weapons and tools behind in the car.

The robbery followed two others at banks in Walkden and Moss Side.

Shortly after 1am on September 7 2017, a group of men wearing balaclavas carried out a violent armed robbery from G4S security guards replenishing the ATMs at the Santander bank situated at Bolton Road, Walkden, Manchester.

One terrified security guard was threatened with a single barrelled shot gun and the robbers made their escape in a stolen getaway car with £125,000in cash.

Then on March 25 last year, a similar incident occurred at Natwest bank on Claremont Rd in Moss Side.

Two G4S employees were inside the bank premises and the glass security door automatically shut and locked behind them. The robbers were forced to run off empty handed.

Five men, Jack Pennington, David Oxten, Neil Callaghan, Lucas Dodd and Scott Holmes previously pleaded guilty to their part of this conspiracy to rob.

But Thomas Keane, aged 52, of Green Lane, Leigh, denied taking part in the conspiracy and went on trial.

He was remanded in custody and sentencing will take place at a future date.

Susan Taylor from the Crown Prosecution Service said: “Thomas Keane played an integral role in this conspiracy to rob innocent men who were going about their daily duties as security officers.

"He was the inside man working for G4S who provided crucial information to members of an organised crime group planning and committing robberies.

"No explanation was offered by Thomas Keane in his police interviews and his actions enabled the execution of armed robberies against his own colleagues. This was a serious breach of the trust placed in him by his employers G4S.

“The CPS worked closely with the police piecing together the telephone records to link Keane to the robbers, and were able prove to the jury that he was in contact with two of them during 12 hour periods either side of each of the three robberies.

"One of the calls he made was to Jack Pennington, just moments after CCTV captured him looking at a job sheet in the G4S offices on his day off.

“Throughout the case he denied any knowledge or involvement in the robberies and later insisted any contact with Jack Pennington had been in relation to buying cannabis, even though there is no mention of cannabis in the phone records.

"However after hearing the evidence against him, the jury have found him guilty of his involvement in the conspiracy.”