A GANG member who helped steal guns worth £100,000 from a Worcestershire house has been ordered to pay back money he made from his crimes.

Craig Clarke was jailed for 17 years in 2011 with four other men when he admitted conspiracy to commit three robberies at homes in Fiery Hill Road, Barnt Green, near Bromsgrove, Hampton Lane in Solihull and at Raikes Lane in Lichfield.

The 32-year-old, formerly of Fareham Road, Birmingham, has reappeared before Worcester Crown Court after West Mercia Police successfully applied for a confiscation order.

Clarke must hand over £9,000 of known assets or face a further five months imprisonment.

Pat Kelly, from the force’s economic crime unit, said others in the gang had faced similar orders and the rest of the stolen property had been recovered by the police.

He said: “We will always seek to recovery criminals’ assets under the Proceeds of Crime Act to ensure they don’t retain money made from their criminal activity.

“The point is that crime does not pay – he will have to pay up or receive another five months on top of his original sentence and still face having to pay at some point in the future.

“This was a large scale investigation and the outcome should help reassure people that such crimes will receive utmost priority from the police.

“Robberies of this nature are thankfully rare in our area but those involved in planning or carrying them out, should be left in no doubt we will use every resource at our disposal to ensure they are brought to justice and then made to pay back any outstanding money.”

The gang had plotted a series of robberies across the region, the first in Barnt Green in April 2010 where several men tied up the occupants before escaping with firearms worth more than £100,000.

Further violent raids were carried out at Solihull on May 8, 2010 and a week later in Lichfield. Cars, cash, jewellery and valuable pottery were among items stolen.