The "organised and ruthless" group, all part of the same notorious traveller family, stole priceless antiques which experts estimate could be worth more than £80m.

A court heard that the gang targeted a number of wealthy homes across the counties along with Wiltshire and Worcestershire, where they knew there would be "rich pickings" during a year-long spree.

Their targets included the Wiltshire mansion of property tycoon Harry Hyams, where they stole property worth millions in a raid described later as the UK's biggest ever private house burglary.

Other victims included Formula One motor racing advertising tycoon Paddy McNally and Lord Lieutenant of Berkshire Sir Philip Wroughton, who had items worth £100,000 stolen when the gang burgled his house in Chaddleworth twice in 12 months.

Those behind the raids were part of the Johnson family - an organised criminal gang who detectives say have plagued the south of England for 20 years.

Richard "Chad" Johnson, 33, and Daniel O'Loughlin, 32, were both jailed for 11 years, Michael Nicholls, 29, was given 10 years, Albi Johnson, 25, was jailed for nine years and 54-year-old Ricky Johnson was given eight years.

In January, they were all found guilty of conspiracy to commit burglary between April 8, 2005 and October 13, 2006 following a month-long trial at Reading Crown Court.

The case can be reported for the first time on Wednesday after O'Loughlin pleaded guilty to a burglary in which a cash dispenser containing nearly £55,000 was ripped from the wall of a Co-op store in Stanford-in-the-Vale, Oxfordshire, in 2006. A further charge of conspiracy to steal involving a number of similar raids on cash machines across the Thames Valley was ordered to be left on file.

O'Loughlin was given a 66-month sentence for the burglary by Judge Critchlow sitting at Guildford Crown Court to run concurrently with the jail term for the country house raids.



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