TWO members of an armed gang who robbed two cash-in-transit vans and shot a security guard have had appeals thrown out.

Dean Farrell, 24, of Billinge Avenue, Blackburn, was jailed for at least 11 years last May for shooting Loomis courier Imran Aslam three times outside a cash point in Preston Old Road, Cherry Tree.

He was convicted of conspiracy to rob, wounding with intent and possession of a firearm and branded ‘dangerous and merciless’ by Judge Robert Brown who commented on the ‘deliberate manner’ he shot the security guard through the leg in December 2008.

At the Court of Appeal in London, Farrell appealed against his indeterminate sentence for public protection (IPP) but that was ruled ‘not excessive’ and rejected.

David Evans, 22, of Bonsall Street, Blackburn, was with shooter Farrell at the Blackburn robbery and was jailed for 15 years for conspiracy to rob and possession of a firearm.

He appealed his conviction with lawyers arguing he should not even have been tried because there was no ‘direct evidence’ to link him to the plot.

But that too was dismissed.

Lord Justice Elias, sitting with Mr Justice Mackay and Mr Justice Hickinbottom, heard that while there was no forensic evidence or witness testimony to place Evans at the scene of the crime, Crown lawyers said the jury could “infer” his involvement from mobile phone records.

These showed he had made calls to other gang members on the date of the robbery and also dur-ing a prior “reconnaissance” exercise.

Lord Justice Elias added: “True it was that the nature of the calls wasn’t known, but it was in fact the pattern of the comm-unications which was crucial.”

The East Lancashire gang, led by Colin McCash, 32, of Spencer Street, with ‘inside agent’ Loomis employee Simon Ginn, 30, of Water Street, and getaway driver Jimmy Mulholland, 38, of Windermere Avenue, all Accrington, had planned and executed a £50,000 cash-in-transit raid in Thornton Cleveleys in August 2008, before the £25,000 Blackburn robbery five months later.

The men were jailed for a total of more than 50 years, but were recently given minimal confiscation orders branded ‘a pittance’ after a court heard they had spent all the stolen money and had few assets.