A violent gang which stole £500,000 from eight jewellery shops and money transfer exchanges will be sentenced.

The thugs used knives, hammers and concrete in their raids across the UK which saw them strike in Kensington and Chelsea.

Thomas O’Connor, 23, from Swan Lane, Rotherhithe, Conor Gartland, 18 from Druid Street, Southwark, and Alex Parle, 22 from Adams Garden Estate, also in Southwark, were convicted of conspiracy to rob eight jewellery shops and money transfer exchanges in Southwark, Newham, Tower Hamlets, Kensington and Chelsea, City of London, Kent and Manchester.

O’Connor, Gary O’Brien, 22 from Brunel Road, Southwark, Michael Ogun, 22 from Poppy Drive, Enfield, Ricardo Richards, 18 from Jamaica Road, Southwark and Jamie Hull, 21 from Tranton Road, Southwark were convicted of conspiracy to rob a jewellers in Tower Hill, following a separate trial.

Between them, the organised crime group stole more than half a million pounds worth of cash and jewellery.

Jamie Hull, Gary O'Brien, Michael Ogun and Ricardo Richards were also part of the gang and will be sentenced

Between February 2014 and January 2015 O’Connor, Gartland and Parle used concrete blocks and hammers to smash through shop windows and cash desk partitions. They threatened staff with hammers and a machete, stealing cash and watches before making off on stolen motorbikes and mopeds.

They will be sentenced at the Old Bailey on December 15.

O’Connor, O’Brien, Ogun, Richards and Hull raided Attenborough Jewellers in Bethnal Green Road, Tower Hamlets on October 8 2014.

They used a hammer to smash through the window, and stole watches and other jewellery from the displays before driving off in getaway cars. Local officers stopped one of the vehicles and arrested the occupants - O’Brien, Richards and Ogun - for robbery.

They will be sentenced on November 15 at Woolwich Crown Court.

News of their trial and impending sentencing can be revealed after reporting restrictions were lifted on O’Connor.

Detective Inspector Nick Blackburn of the Flying Squad said: “These men terrified shop employees, using weapons, aggression and threats in order to get jewellery and cash... many of the victims now live in fear of another attack.

“I hope that other robbery gangs will look at this case as an example of how police services across the country will work together to ensure they face justice.”