THEY came from the Big Smoke, thinking the Eastleigh factory was an easy touch. It had been plotted with skill, experience and ruthlessness.

But as the heavily armed and masked gang moved in, ramming two cars and taking the thousands of pounds in wages earmarked for the 600 staff at Warner-Hudnut headquarters in Chestnut Avenue, they fell into a carefully planned trap involving more than 30 police officers.

In a pitched battle that flared just a few hundred yards from the cosmetics factory gates, five detectives were injured and a gang member was shot in the shoulder.

Ten men were arrested and it later transpired Warner-Hudnut was just one of five sites in south Hampshire earmarked as targets. Another was Vosper.

The mid-summer violence in 1968 exploded into action when three cars, containing the gang carrying a sawn-off shotgun, pick-axe handles and ammonia dispensers and driven from London, lay in wait.

So, too, were the police.

The drama began shortly after 9am when two cars left the factory for a bank in the railway town and a leather bag was brought out and carried by one of the firm’s security team.

As the vehicles neared the factory, they were suddenly rammed to the front and rear by two stolen cars in Falkland Road, while a van drew up alongside and a number of armed men tumbled out. Using coshes, they smashed the cars’ windscreens and fired ammonia inside.

But in addition to the normal security, the Warner cars also contained police officers, one of whom was in contact by radio with Det Supt Bert Adams, deputy co-ordinator of the regional crime squad.

Almost immediately another detective gave a signal and police poured on to the scene.

It led to what the prosecutor at their sentencing described as “a lively encounter”.

Three police officers were armed with pistols and fired warning shots into the air.

A fierce fight ensued with the gang swinging coshes in a desperate attempt to flee.

The gun-totaing raider was quickly apprehended and the fight did not last long, with the police weight of numbers quickly telling.

One gang member, James Haymer, who received 12 years for his part in the raid, later gave evidence at the trial of three other men who had denied involvement.

He said a gang of seven was quickly put together and drove to Southampton with maps and holdalls containing weapons and overalls.

Just before the raid he donned a balaclava and after the wages car had been ambushed he jumped out and smashed a window.

“A wages satchel was pushed out. It was empty. As soon as I received it, I knew something was wrong. I looked round and there were police coming from everywhere. I could see we had no chance so I stood with a cosh at my side.”

Asked if anyone at Warners had acted as an inside man, he firmly replied: “No.”

But during the course of the fracas, one gang member was shot in the shoulder when an officer grappling with him was thrown to the ground and his gun accidentally discharged.

The injured man, James Dixey, 33, later observed: “I reckon this is the first time in England that a bandit has been shot by a policeman.”

Five police officers, including Supt Adams, were injured. He was treated for the affects of ammonia in his eyes. Two members of the regional crime squad, Det Sgts Kenneth Holmes and Edward Porter, had head wounds stitched. DC Leslie Newman, who was based at the Southampton police division, suffered a cut hand.

After Supt Adams was taken to hospital, Det Supt William Rowe, crime co-ordinator for south-west Hampshire, took charge of the operation. Road blocks were set up near the scene but they were removed after the gang had been taken to the police station.

Seven London men appeared at Hampshire Assizes on November 25 when they pleaded guilty to one indictment of robbery with aggravation, robbing an employee of William R Warner of a leather bag.

The gang was driven to court from Winchester Prison in police-escorted vans. Plain-clothed officers formed the majority in the public gallery, and Press and ushers entering the court had their identities checked.

At the end of a day-long hearing, Mr Justice Lawton jailed them for 80 years, saying: “You must well know that the community cannot tolerate for one moment this kind of criminal enterprise.

“It is a public scandal that in this day and age firms cannot draw their wages without having to have escorts and armoured vehicles and the like, and the courts have got to bring this kind conduct to an end.

“Anyone going on this type of enterprise with a weapon can expect very severe sentences.

He congratulated the police on “a wonderful effort”.

Six months later, three men who denied the allegation appeared at the same court, and during the hearing it emerged that the gang had looked at four other potential sites in the Southampton for raids. One was identified as Vosper, where it was believed £50,000 in wages was delivered.

The trio were convicted. Two were jailed for a total of ten years and the other received a suspended sentence.