Gang dressed up as police officers to kidnap and rob Northamptonshire DPD delivery drivers

Their female accomplice had met one of the pair on Tinder
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A gang that plotted the kidnap and robbery of thousands in TVs, phones and luxury goods from two DPD drivers from a budget hotel bolt-hole have been jailed for nearly a decade.

Andrew Bluck and Adam Merkitt, along with Merkitt's live-in girlfriend Tanya Dawkes, followed the delivery drivers through Northamptonshire, dressed as police officers, before stopping their vehicles and telling them there were explosive packages on board.

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They then kidnapped them and drove them to rural locations including Higham Ferrers Football Club before loading up a car with parcels and making their escape.

Dawkes, Merkitt and Bluck who stayed at the Campanile hotel in Northampton and drove one of their victims to Higham Ferrers Football Club (bottom left)Dawkes, Merkitt and Bluck who stayed at the Campanile hotel in Northampton and drove one of their victims to Higham Ferrers Football Club (bottom left)
Dawkes, Merkitt and Bluck who stayed at the Campanile hotel in Northampton and drove one of their victims to Higham Ferrers Football Club (bottom left)

But the pair were caught, and on Friday (March 11) received long prison terms.

Northampton Crown Court heard that Bluck and Merkitt, who have long and violent criminal records and are both currently serving prisonsers, had holed-up in the Campanile Hotel in Northampton under fake names in the days leading up to the first robbery on October 12, 2019.

They had purchased stab vests with the word 'police' on the front and at 5.56am on October 12, Bluck, 38, sent Merkitt a message saying 'It only fits!', before Merkitt replied 'You'd best be ready. Let's roll out. This is going to be epic.'

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Prosecuting, Katya Saudek, said: "What was to follow had been carefully planned. It was not spur of the moment."

Andrew Bluck, who has been jailed for his part in the DPD robberiesAndrew Bluck, who has been jailed for his part in the DPD robberies
Andrew Bluck, who has been jailed for his part in the DPD robberies

Dawkes, 47, travelled from her home in Brookside, Great Paxton, St Neots, to the Campanile and then the trio set out in Dawkes's Seat Leon courtesy car fitted with false plates stolen earlier from a nearby car dealership forecourt.

The trio travelled to the DPD Raunds depot and were then caught on ANPR driving through Rushden, following a van that had just collected a load of parcels.

The DPD driver stopped at his Rushden home to pick up a coffee.

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Recorder Donnellan said: "As he came back to his vehicle you were ready and waiting for him."

Adam Merkitt, who played a leading role in the robberies along with his girlfriend.Adam Merkitt, who played a leading role in the robberies along with his girlfriend.
Adam Merkitt, who played a leading role in the robberies along with his girlfriend.

The pair, with their police stab vests on, got out of the Seat Leon and told the delivery driver they were undercover police officers and that there was a suspicious package in his van.

Merkitt, 37, of HMP Highpoint, guided the driver into the passenger side of the three-seat vehicle and sat on the door-side, while Bluck drove the van, leaving the delivery driver trapped between the two.

Recorder Donnellan said: "He began to realise there was something wrong. He wasn't sure what to do, fight or flight. His instinct was he had no chance."

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In her evidence during her trial, Tanya Dawkes claimed to have been asleep in the back of the Seat Leon while the crimes were taking place. But in reality, she was driving the Seat Leon that was following the van. After a 20-minute drive at about 8.15am, the van and car pulled into Higham Ferrers FC car park in a country lane outside the town.

Tanya Dawkes, jailed for 30 months, who met Merkitt on TinderTanya Dawkes, jailed for 30 months, who met Merkitt on Tinder
Tanya Dawkes, jailed for 30 months, who met Merkitt on Tinder

They opened the rear doors while Dawkes reversed her vehicle towards the back of the van and items worth at least £4,114 including a laptop, TV, Playstation, and iPhone and several Nike items. The value of many other items stolen could never be established.

The trio left the driver and went to buy drugs in Bedford before returning to the Campanile. Dawkes was seen carrying Nike boxes, one of which appeared to have been sold to a receptionist at the hotel.

The self-employed DPD driver lost hundreds in income as his van had to be taken off the road while his locks were changed. He also suffered 'paranoia' that hew was going to be targeted again.

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Two days later, on October 14, Merkitt and Bluck travelled to the DPD depot in Bicester, following a driver to Witney, Oxfordshire.

They stopped the van and told the driver they were police officers with the 'intelligence agency' and that there was an explosive package on his van.

Merkitt and Bluck, of HMP Peterborough, forced him to open the van to search for boxes with batteries on the outside - which usually contain expensive electronics - and then drove the delivery driver around. They eventually stopped the van in the drive of a residential house, having stolen at least £1,472 worth of mobile phones.

The previous robbery for which Merkitt and Bluck are currently serving jail terms. Image: Cambs Police.The previous robbery for which Merkitt and Bluck are currently serving jail terms. Image: Cambs Police.
The previous robbery for which Merkitt and Bluck are currently serving jail terms. Image: Cambs Police.

The driver flagged down a passer-by who phoned 999.

Dawkes and Merkitt were arrested a week later in Northampton when the Seat Leon was flagged on ANPR cameras. Two combat knives were found in the boot.

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Merkitt, who pleaded guilty to two kidnaps, two robberies and two counts of knife possession, has 19 previous convictions for 85 offences which began when he was just 15-years-old. They include a robbery in 2007 for which he served four years in prison, escaping from lawful custody in 2009, an arson in 2012.

Just three weeks after the DPD robberies were carried out, Merkitt and Bluck robbed £4,000 from a convenience store in Cambridgeshire using an axe, a crime for which Merkitt is currently serving a five year and eight month jail term. He had already been questioned about the DPD robberies and released under police investigation when he carried out the axe robbery.

Bluck, who also pleaded guilty to two robberies and two kidnaps, is currently serving a sentence of three years and ten months for the axe robbery. He has convictions for 77 previous offences including a burglary for which he was wearing an electronic tag when the DPD robberies were carried out.

Dawkes has no previous convictions. She was found guilty of one offence of robbery after a trial last month. She had claimed that she had been coerced into committing the crime by her boyfriend Merkitt but the court heard that she had willingly taken part and that she had continued her relationship with him, although she had told probation officers that she had recently split up with him.

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"You continued your relationship with him throughout the trial, and only the prospect of a custodial sentence today has made you consider leaving the relationship," said Recorder Donnellan.

"I'm sad to say it's something I don't think you have really done but something you've said you've done to save yourself."

The court heard that Dawkes, who met Merkitt on Tinder in 2019, had a child for whom she was responsible and her barrister argued she should not be jailed. But Recorder Donnellan said that she had had 'no regard' for her son when she had taken back-to-back holidays to Morocco and Mexico, causing her family situation to come to the attention of social services.

For Blunt, advocate Liam Muir said that both men had class-A drug addictions and that his client had made a 'step-change' since being jailed. He said he had attempted to sever ties with his old associates.

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Merkitt was given nine year prison sentences for the robberies, five years and three months for the kidnaps and six months for the knife possession offences, all to be served concurrently meaning his total sentence is nine years. But Recorder Donnellan ordered the nine-year sentence to be served consecutively to the axe robbery term for which he is already in jail.

Bluck was handed prison sentences of nine years and seven months for the robberies and five years, four months for the kidnaps. He'll serve them concurrently, but consecutively to the axe robbery sentence he's already serving.

Dawkes was jailed for 30 months. As her sentence was handed down, both Merkitt and Bluck - who appeared from HMP Peterborough - put their heads in their hands and appeared shocked.

As she was taken down, Dawkes shouted: "I'm going to appeal. Don't worry."