Gang Jailed

By RURAL-WATCH | 2nd November 2019

Gang jailed over £250,000 cash machine raids throughout Warwickshire, West Midlands and Staffordshire
An organised crime gang behind a £250,000 series of attacks on cash machines around the Midlands is behind bars today, as CCTV footage shows their raids around the region.
In the attached video footage a member of the gang can be seen examining a cash machine at Rugby Train Station before an unsuccessful attempt to steal it a few days later. Warwick Hospital also came under attack as a cash machine was stolen in December 2018.
Other targets of the gang’s spree of 11 burglaries and attempted burglaries include:
15th March 2018 – The gang used cutting equipment to break into Spar in Tamworth before ripping out the cash machine
24th September 2018 – The gang cut bollards to get into Birmingham’s Cannon Hill Park, where they dragged a cash machine from the Midlands Arts Centre
29th September 2018 – The inside of a Post Office in Lichfield is destroyed when the gang drag the cash machine through it. The gang put tape over CCTV cameras
17th October 2018 – The masked gang walk into Birmingham’s Queen Elizabeth hospital before loading an ATM onto a trolley and walking out, past members of the public.
27th January 2019 – Security guards have to dodge out of the way of the gang’s van after they are disturbed at a cash and carry in Birmingham
But a major West Midlands Police operation brought the gang down thanks to a combination of CCTV, forensics and phone analysis.
The gang’s downfall began when they were forced to abandon a Transit van they were using as a getaway vehicle, following a pursuit. Forensic tests on that, and a fingerprints left on a trolley they’d dumped at one crime scene, helped police identify suspects.
Ringleader Craig Matthews, who has 19 previous convictions spanning 49 offences, left his DNA on a piece of tape used to cover cameras in Lichfield. He was also forensically linked to a registration plate on one of the vans.
The gang was arrested at the beginning of this year and went on to admit conspiracy to commit commercial burglary.
At the end of October the gang were sentenced at Birmingham Crown Court.
Craig Matthews, 42, of Benmore Avenue, Edgbaston, Birmingham was jailed for eight years and seven months.
David Bradley, 28, of Wappenbury Road, Wood End, Coventry, was given five years.
Kenneth Bourne, 38, of Nuneaton Road, Fillongley, was jailed for six years.
Shane Stajsavlijevic, 36, of Hermes Crescent, Henley Green, Coventry, was jailed for seven years and two months.
Charlie Ward, 27, of Pepys Corner, Tile Hill, Coventry, was handed five years.