A PAIR of brothers face lengthy jail terms after their five-year crime spree ended with a conviction after a botched raid on a van.

Sean and Vincent Bradish, 34 and 38, were convicted at the Old Bailey on Thursday last week after netting nearly £250,000 between 1995 and 2000 from 24 attacks on banks, security vans and travel agents across London, many in Ealing.

The brothers were convicted of multiple counts of conspiracy to rob and conspiracy to handle firearms and will be sentenced on March 7.

On October 20, 2000, police watched gang members preparing to commit a robbery in Alperton. Their target, a van collecting cash from a charity for the blind, was carrying hundreds of thousands of pounds.

Armed with sawn-off shotguns, the robbers were ready to overpower the driver when armed officers surrounded them. Sean Bradish was arrested along with two gang members Tyrone Hall and Robert Mason both convicted in August 2001 and sentenced to three and 10 years respectively.

A fourth gang member, Stephen Roberts, was arrested just days later and gave evidence against the brothers, implicating them in a number of robberies. Roberts, 29, admitted his part in 12 robberies and was charged with armed robbery and possession of firearms with intention to commit an indictable offence.

He appeared at Brent Magistrates' Court in November 2000 where he was remanded in custody. He awaits sentencing at the Old Bailey the day after the Bradish brothers.

DCI Bob Cummings said: "Sean and Vincent Bradish were London's most prolific armed robbers at the time of their arrest and two of the most dangerous armed robbers we have ever dealt with."

Among the brothers' victims in Ealing were Thomas Cook in Uxbridge Road, Hanwell, where Sean Bradish stole over £7,000 in foreign currency and travellers cheques in April 1999; Barclays Bank in Church Road, Northolt, was hit twice by the Bradish gang, once in August 1999 and again in February the following year. The robbers took a total of over £8,000 from the bank.