A ROBBER from Hampton, one of two members of a brutal armed gang, who is in custody and awaiting sentence was, at the time of his arrest, also a suspect in the murder of Marsha McDonnell police revealed this week.

The gang which targeted lone shopkeepers in Feltham and Hanworth often "pistol whipping" them and disguised in Halloween masks, has been put out of action.

Boyd Keppel, 22, from Hampton, pleaded guilty at Kingston Crown Court last week to raids on shops in Summer Road, Thames Ditton, the Fernside Post Office & Newsagent on Clifton Parade, Feltham, and the One Stop Shop on Ashburnham Road in Ham.

Thomas Birks, 18, also from Hampton admitted to the Feltham attack.

Police believe the pair were members of a gang of armed robbers who went on a robbery spree between February 5 and 19 this year. One officer revealed how Keppel wore a ‘‘scream’’ type Halloween mask, with a purple hood, and black veil covering the face.

At the same time he was arrested in March for armed robbery, Keppel was also a suspect in the murder of Marsha McDonnell. The 19-year-old student who was killed with a blunt instrument after she got off a bus to walk home in Hampton on February 4th. Keppel was questioned over this and similar attacks on a 17-year-old girl and an 18-year-old youth, but later completely eliminated from police inquiries.

DC Defreitas, from the Barnes Flying Squad, who headed the investigation into the gang, said they picked on the most vulnerable shops. He told the Times: ‘‘Principally they targeted convenience stores, sub post offices and newsagents with a solitary member of staff. The modus operandi was always the same. Two to three gang members would go in wearing a combination of face masks and other disguises. On each occasion the victims were pistol whipped around the head while the accomplice or accomplices ripped out the whole till.

‘‘Most of these offences were for two or four hundred pounds in cash and a few cigarette cartons. When you think of the violence, it’s totally over the top. It’s unnecessary and gratuitous. Unless somebody has a go, you don’t usually see this level of violence. All of the victims were compliant.’’ During one raid by the gang on February 5, on a newsagent in Saxon Avenue, Hanworth, a gun muzzle was placed against the head of shopkeeper. On the raid on Summer Road shop on February 18, the shopkeeper was forced to the ground and a gun repeatedly cocked and aimed at his face.

The victim in the Feltham raid on February 19 was pistol whipped, and his head slammed against a wall causing head injuries. Police revealed he had recently gone through major heart surgery before the attack.

Later that same night the gang targeted the One Stop Shop in Ham, and police found evidence of the shopkeeper’s blood on a top owned by Keppel and his face mask, which formed part of their case against him.

Neither Birks nor Keppel were involved in the violence on the shopkeepers, but according to DC Defreitas, Keppel, who also admitted to taking part in a ram raid on a shop in Windsor two years ago, would be ‘‘facing a substantial custodial sentence’’.

Keppel will be sentenced for burglary and possession of a firearm with intent at Kingston Crown Court on August 26. Birks faces sentence for conspiracy to rob on the same date.