Ruthless ATM gang stole half a million pounds in five-month crime spree
24.04.2023 - 19:23
/ manchestereveningnews.co.uk
A gang of ruthless criminals who carried out at least 19 cash machine raids on small convenience stores across England and Wales have been jailed for combined total of 21 years.
The four men appeared at Liverpool Crown Court today after admitting conspiracy to commit burglary at an earlier hearing. During a five-month crime spree during the spring and summer of 2022 they escaped with more than half a million pounds and caused and estimated £1m worth of damage.
The men, Lee Leatherbarrow, 33, of Lascelles Street, St Helens ; Crimea Price, 32, of Southworth Road, Newton-Le-Willows , Arthur Gaskin, 35, of no fixed address; and John Price, 28, of Newport Street, Burslem, struck between March and July. Their targets included stores in Worsley, and Atherton in Greater Manchester, and they kept one of three high-powered getaway cars in a lockup garage in Lowton, Wigan.
The court heard how, between 11th March 2022 and 7th July 2022, there were 19 incidents where mini supermarkets containing standalone ATMs had been targeted sometime overnight. It is estimated more than £580,000 in cash was stolen from machines during the spate of attacks.
Cheshire Constabulary’s Serious and Organised Crime Unit launched an investigation in April 2022 following an ATM attack at a store on Longshaw Street, Warrington – during which two attending female police officers were ‘rammed’ by the group as they fled the scene.
During their enquiries into the gang, named Operation Hades, officers identified links to offences spanning the width of the North of England down to the Midlands and crossing the border into North Wales.
On each occasion the gang would conduct a reconnaissance of the ATM machines with one of the group using one of the machines in