Ruthless robbers on £580,000 crime spree

Gang struck at 19 store cash machines in just five months

- NEAL KEELING

IT was 4.15am and two men arrived in a black BMW outside the Co-op in Ellenbrook, Worsley.

They were joined by another in a Transit van stolen hours earlier from Burtonwood, Cheshire.

They then attempted to steal money from a cash machine inside the Co-op on Morston Close.

The attempt failed - but that incident on March 16th 2022 was their second strike. Two days earlier, they had escaped with £21,420 in an identical attack at a Co-op in Lincolnshire.

It was the start of a five-month crime spree from March to July 2022 which saw them strike 19 times across England and Wales. Using a lockup garage in Greater Manchester as a ‘stable’ where they would keep their stolen cars, the raids saw the crew steal £580,000 in total.

The four-man gang - who also hit two stores in one night in their spree - employed meticulous planning and, when required, ruthless violence.

For all of their raids, the method was the same.

They started by stealing a Transit van on the night near the target location, before attaching to a tow bar of the vehicle a builder’s strap which was wrapped around standing cash machines in the stores. The machines were then dragged out of the shops and as they broke with the force cassettes of cash rifled.

The gang would then flee the scene in one of three stolen cars - two BMWs and a Golf R-type, which had been taken via a house burglary in Worsley. The van would be abandoned in situ.

They used a whizzer cutting tool to slice through shutters at the stores. In the days before, they carried out a recce by buying something from the store so they knew precisely where the cash machine was. On the night of each attack they would all wear balaclavas and also be equipped with crow bars.

But a terrifying raid in Warrington, Cheshire, was the beginning of their downfall.