A brutal gang who stole more than £500,000 in a carefully planned raid on ATMs in more than 19 shops across the country has been jailed.
The gang of four men “left a trail of destruction for their own selfish gain” as they used stolen vehicles and power tools in the nighttime raids, police said.
Liverpool Crown Court heard the gang targeted a ‘specific make and model’ of stand-alone ATMs in the shops during the large-scale operation.
Shocking footage shows ATM doors being ripped open and dragged through shop floors while attached to moving vehicles.
The gang targeted 19 stores in England and Wales between March 11, 2022 and July 7, 2022, but was caught when officers chased the getaway BMW.
The gang was pictured on CCTV footage during one of their raids using a whizzer tool to cut through shutters to reach an ATM
Lee Leatherbarrow (left), 33, and Arthur Gaskin (right), 35, were sentenced to seven years in prison
It reached speeds of up to 140 km/h in a 50 km/h zone after the latest break-in at a cooperative store in Moira, Leicestershire, police said.
And the gang tried to injure the pursuing officers by throwing a fire extinguisher and stones at them.
Lee Leatherbarrow, 33, and Arthur Gaskin, 35, received seven years in prison, Crimea Price, 32, eight years and John Price, 27, was sentenced to six years.
All had pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit burglary at an earlier hearing.
Cheshire Police detectives launched an investigation in April 2022 after a raid on a shop in Warrington saw officers ‘rammed’ by the group as they fled the scene.
The forcibly identified links to offenses spanning the width of the north of England, down to the Midlands and crossing the border into North Wales.
On each occasion, in the weeks leading up to the crime, the gang conducted a reconnaissance of the ATMs with one of the group using one of the ATMs.
Once an exact location and day were identified, it would set off a specific chain of events, police said.
Crimea Price (left), 32, was sentenced to eight years in prison and John Price (right), 27, was sentenced to six years
The group would use cell phones to communicate and coordinate a meeting place before leaving their phones at home so they could not be tracked by police.
They then used stolen vehicles, two BMWs and a Volkswagen Golf Type R to get to their rendezvous points.
Police found one of the vehicles stored in a garage in Wigan, which the group believed to be a safe location.
In another attempt to cover their tracks, they also used multiple cloned license plates related to similar car makes and models.
They would then steal Ford Transit vans and follow in convoy with one of the other vehicles to travel directly to the store that would be targeted.
They used power tools such as an angle grinder to get into the shops and then dragged the machines out before loading the vehicles with cassettes of cash.
Shocking footage of the police chase after their latest raid shows officers dodging stones thrown at them by the gang as they flee.
When they were finally stopped, the officers found seven sets of license plates, four bottles of disinfectant, stones, a sledgehammer and a circular saw.
Detective Nick Henderson of the Cheshire Constabulary said: ‘This gang has left a trail of destruction for their own selfish gain.
‘They may have stolen more than £500,000 in cash, but this does not explain the damage done to the shops, ATMs and around 20 vehicles stolen to commit the offences.
‘In total, this investigation identified a loss of £1 million.’
