Two security guards have been jailed for their part in staging a £7 million cash-in-transit heist after stealing money from a depot at Heathrow Airport.

Loomis employees Mohammad Siddique and Ranjeev Singh used their van to steal cash belonging to Credit Suisse from inside a British Airways cargo depot at the airport.

Another man, Rafaqat Hussain, who was "at the heart of the conspiracy", later boasted of how he would spend the money, Kingston Crown Court heard.

Siddique, 32, and Singh, 40, were each jailed for six and half years for conspiracy to steal, while Hussain was sentenced 10 years and three months for helping organise the staged robbery.

Hussain, 41, helped organise the fake heist in which Siddique and Singh drove away with 26 bags of cash and prosecutors believe he had been tipped off by an insider.

After driving from the depot on March 14, Siddique stopped to allow Singh a toilet break, who then waited some time before reporting the van missing.

In that time Siddique drove away at speed, and was later found bound by cables on a service road near the M40 in Buckinghamshire, with the van abandoned and the cash missing.

The two security guards made it appear they were victims, but phone records showed Siddique had been in contact with Hussain and Singh.

Secret recordings made by a device planted by police in Hussain's car caught him admitting "I had all the cash, £7 million" and also heard him boast that he could buy any car he wanted with the stolen cash.

He said: "Mate it was a job, I f****** robbed £7 million.

"I want to lie low, I could buy a Ferrari, I want to chill for about six months, buy a couple of houses, flip them and make a bit of money."

Siddique, Belgrave Road, Slough, and Singh, of Grampian Way, Slough, had previously denied one count of conspiracy to steal, but a jury found them guilty.

Hussain plead guilty to conspiracy to steal, money launder and commit burglary.

Judge Stephen John said: "You each played for high stakes and must now pay the price."

He called the staged robbery "a sophisticated operation which involved meticulous planning and execution", in which Siddique and Singh "played (their) parts to perfection".

The court heard there are more people involved in the case that have not been identified.

Prosecutor Sandip Patel QC said someone with inside information would have been involved, Hussain knew that Siddique and Singh had been "assigned the Credit Suisse run well before they were officially told at around 7.15am that morning" after calling Siddique at 5.42am to make it clear that would be the day of the heist.

A further man, Garry Carrod, was jailed for three and a half years after pleading guilty to conspiracy to commit burglary.

He and Hussain, along with his wife Razvana Zeib, both of Chadwick Road, Slough, organised a house they wanted to buy with their share of the £7 million to be ransacked in an attempt to bring down the price.

An 88-year-old woman was selling the house to fund a place in a care home, but after it was flooded and vandalised, with windows broken, her failure to tell insurers she was not living there at the time of the burglary meant they failed to pay out.

Carrod, 34, from Taplow, Buckinghamshire, has 74 previous convictions, including one for conspiracy to steal vehicles with Hussain, who has 64 previous offences to his name.

Hussain's wife Zeib, 35, will be sentenced at a later date after she plead guilty to conspiracy to money launder and commit burglary.

By Catherine Wyatt