A GANG leader has been jailed for a total of 12 years after a botched burglary at a jewellers in Colchester.

Reece Dunford, 31, was the ringleader of smash-and-grab raiders.

He was one of four bungling burglars who tried to break into Goldsmiths jewellers, in Shewell Walk, Colchester, in March 2008.

An angle grinder they were using kept on cutting out and they were spotted on CCTV before fleeing.

They crashed the getaway car, an incident that featured on TV’s Police Interceptors, and three of the gang were caught – but Dunford got away.

He appeared at Kingston Crown Court on Thursday, having been caught for his involvement in a £300,000 watch heist at a jewellers in Hatton Garden, London.

He was jailed for 12 years after being found guilty of a string of raids, including conspiracy to burgle Goldsmiths, in Colchester. A recording was played of him boasting about the incident, saying: “You can watch it on Interceptors, but I got away.”

The total value of the goods involved in his offences was an estimated £3million.

Det Con Simon Davison, of the Met’s Flying Squad, said: “Dunford was involved in every incident in one way or another and clearly started to think he was untouchable.”

The court heard Dunford, of Osprey Road, Waltham Abbey, first burgled the Alexander McQueen warehouse in London in 2007 before moving on to the Colchester break-in.

Over the next six years, he carried out, organised, or handled the stolen goods from several raids across London’s West End, including Selfridges.

He was caught last year after a robbery at Mappin & Webb in the capital, which he masterminded.

Two men in motorcycle helmets burst in and threatened staff before using sledgehammers and an axe to smash through cabinets and steal more than £300,000 in watches.

The Flying Squad swooped on a house in London and caught Dunford and Hatton Garden jeweller Yair Cohen, 71, of Woodmill Road, Hackney, with the loot. Cohen was jailed for six years.

Dunford, despite a character reference from his famous aunt, Birds of a Feather TV star Linda Robson, was jailed for conspiracy to burgle, produce Class B drugs and handling stolen goods.