A gang of 30 “brazen” thieves that struck twice in Wimbledon during a string of 33 jewellery raids has been jailed.

They used CS spray and smashed windows with axes and hammers at jewellers across southern England and in mainland Europe, stealing £3.5m of goods between January 2008 and May 2009. Last week 29 men and one woman were sentenced for the crimes.

They struck at Halfhide in Wimbledon Hill Road on November 14 2008 and Eternal in the High Street on February 19 2009.

At Halfhide witnesses saw men in boiler suits smash their way into the shop with sledgehammers before grabbing jewellery worth more than £30,000. They fled in a four-wheel drive car that was ditched by the gang minutes later.

The attempted robbery at Eternal took place at 11am in the morning, where witnesses saw men in boiler suits and black masks driving away from the raid at high speed.

The gang - that targeted jewellers in towns including Brighton, Norfolk, Cheshire, Bristol, and Antwerp in Belgium - were sentenced at Kingston Crown Court on Thursday and Friday.

Detective Inspector Jason Prins, of the Met's Flying Squad, said: "The incidents were terrifying for the staff members and their customers who were caught up in them; it is our duty to protect people from this level of violence.

"These defendants operated as an organised criminal network, meticulously planning and carrying out the most brazen daylight raids.”

Those involved in the Halfhide raid were James Stewart, 28, of Maidstone in Kent, who was sentenced to 14 years for 10 counts of conspiracy to commit robbery and five counts of conspiracy to commit burglary.

Lee Fairbank, 31, of no fixed address, was sentenced to 15 years for five counts of conspiracy to commit robbery. Charles Sadler, 22, from Woolwich and Kevin David Cook, 28, from Hackney, were sentenced to 11 and seven years respectively for conspiracy to commit robbery.

Two men linked to the Eternal raid were also sentenced - 28 year old Anthony Bado from Bournemouth received 12 years for one count of conspiracy to commit robbery, and 50 year old Albert Bado from Greenwich was handed nine years and four months for the same offence.