A gang who stole a total of £580,000 from raiding cash machines in a five-month spree 'rammed' into two female police officers as part of a bold attack caught on CCTV. The incident came during a number of raids thugs carried out across England and Wales between March and July 2022.
'Ruthless' violence was used by the gang, who 'meticulous' planned the operation by using a Greater Manchester lockup as a 'stable' for stolen motors deployed during the thefts, reports the Manchester Evening News. The attack on the two female officers occurred on April 15, 2022 in Warrington, Cheshire in a raid that saw the crew escape with £34,000 outside a Nisa store.
Police had responded quickly to the scene after noticing a 'pattern' to the gang's hits. The gang turned their attention to the two female police officers who responded after stealing the ATM, ramming their transit van into the patrol cars.
They then hurled bricks at the car window as they drove by.
At Liverpool Crown Court, Lee Leatherbarrow, 33, Crimea Price, 32, Arthur Gaskin, 35 and John Price, 28, were all jailed after admitting conspiracy to commit burglary. Leatherbarrow and Gaskin received seven years and six months in jail; Crimea Price was sentenced to eight years and John Price to six years.
Inspector Nick Henderson, of Cheshire Constabulary's Serious and Organised Crime Unit, said: "A pattern was recognised by us after the 15th April 2022 when in the early hours we were struck by this team at the Nisa store in on Longshaw Street in Warrington. It was a nasty offence.
"Our response was almost immediate. Two female officers attended in their patrol car just as the offenders had dragged out the ATM. The offenders then turned their attention towards our cops and rammed into them - they had a real good go moving their Ford Transit van back and forwards into the patrol car. They then used bricks to throw at the officers as they drove by to shatter the windscreen of their car.
"In that attack they got away with £34,800. This began our involvement and led to some amazing detective work by our local policing unit. This was a large amount of money to be stolen - a really violent offence.
"Our investigations led to one of the cloned number plates used by the bandit car (a white Golf R type) they had used to getaway fast from the event.
"Detectives found the cloned plate in a local lane - potentially it come off the car - but we don't know. It then gave us an idea around the travel pattern because we were able to put it into our automatic number plate recognition cameras, and trace where they have come from. Even though we know it is a fake cloned plate. It was a matter of perseverance, checking hours of local footage including CCTV on local shops, ANPR cameras and houses, for CCTV."
The gang used a similar method to each attack, stealing cars after scoping out the stores to hit in the days prior. A transit van's tow bar was attached to a builder's strap which was wrapped around standing cash machines in the stores.
The ATMs were dragged out of the stores and a cutting tool used to pierce through shop shutters. In each attack they were armed with crow bars and wore balaclavas.
A Golf involved in the attack on the two officers was eventually traced to a garage in Wigan that was said to be their 'lockup'. Police were able to piece together that the gang had been involved in previous hits on shops and supermarkets elsewhere.
Detective Inspector Henderson said: "The MO was very particular - using Transit vans stolen on the day. Police then set up a covert operation to watch the garage where they stashed either the Golf or the BMWs. Our intention was to absolutely dismantle this organised cirme group."
Police got a break in the case when Leatherbarrow turned up at the garage in a legitimate works van. The other two members, Crimea Price and John Price, were also caught returning a a stolen BMW to the garage, removing equipment from the boot after police had found jerry cans full of extra fuel and false number plates in the cars.
An undercover police operation led to the gang being followed in the build up to a bungled raid Derbyshire. Police moved in following the incident. The BMW was stopped following a high-speed pursuit involving a stinger and the gang of four were apprehended.
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