A gang of thieves who used a stolen digger to rip a cash machine from the wall of a convenience store have been jailed.
Luke Anderson, James Gillespie and John Selfridge targeted a range of cars, vans and motorhomes across the midlands region between September 2019 and March 2020 – with vehicles taken in Lincolnshire, Nottinghamshire, Leicestershire and Walsall in the West Midlands.
Their crime spree culminated in the audacious midnight theft of a cash machine from a convenience store in High Street, Blyth.
Using a digger stolen just hours earlier from the Nottingham area the gang pulled the ATM from the wall in the early hours of March 20 and placed it on the back of a stolen van.
The empty cash machine, which had contained around £43,000 in cash, was later discovered at a farm near Newark and recovered by police.
Anderson, Gillespie, and Selfridge – already the subject of detectives’ attention for multiple vehicle thefts – were linked to the ATM theft by mobile phone data and arrested.
All three men appeared at Nottingham Crown Court today (Thursday).
Anderson, 29, currently of HMP Nottingham, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to steal motor vehicles and conspiracy to steal. He was sentenced to a total of three years in prison.
Gillespie, 29, of Cleveland Square, Newark, and Selfridge, 31, of no fixed abode, also pled guilty to the same offences and was were each jailed for a total of three years.
A fourth man, 23-year-old Tyler Mayall, also of HMP Nottingham, was not involved in the ATM theft but did admit to conspiracy to steal motor vehicles and was jailed for 15 months.
Detective Constable Andrew Brownless, from Nottinghamshire Police, said: “This was sophisticated and organised criminal gang that conspired to steal motor vehicles from across the region. Their activities bought considerable distress to their victims and were taken extremely seriously by Nottinghamshire Police. During our lengthy investigations into their activities we were also able to use mobile data to tie them to the theft of the ATM machine. I am delighted that they will now be serving these prison sentences.”
