A criminal gang who raided almost £700,000 from cash machines were arrested days after boasting ‘police had ‘nothing concrete’ on them’we aren’t stupid enough’ to get caught.
The group carried out nine heists on banks and stores using angle grinders and jaws of life, specialist tools normally used by firefighters to rescue people trapped in cars.
They also rammed a reinforced flatbed truck into businesses to quickly break in and grab cash, before making a getaway in high performance cars with fake numberplates.
The criminals broke into shops and banks, including Co-op stores, across the UK, in Bedfordshire, Manchester, Cumbria, Cambridgeshire, Northamptonshire, Staffordshire and Somerset.
A recording of a WhatsApp message between gang members showed them bullish that police had no evidence on which to prosecute them – just 11 days before they were caught.
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Noel Reilly, 46, Simon Pagett, 43 and Craig Howell, 44 were found to have planned the series of raids as well as sourced the tools and stolen vehicles to carry them out.
Reilly’s phone was found to contain recorded messages reassuring his fellow gang members that police they would not be caught.
He is heard saying: ‘Yeah, it’s mad how they’re just clutching.
‘They just need the last bit of evidence because they haven’t got anything for anyone concrete.
‘So they just want to know. All them little bits paint a story. So they just want to paint the biggest story they can.’
He concluded: ‘It’s good that we just stop and let the investigation stop. We’re not stupid enough mate.’
However he also lamented the group having false documentation in order to travel elsewhere in Europe where they would be less likely to be traced.
‘I wish we all had fake passports. I’d be around Europe doing them mate where we’re not known’, he said.
However unbeknown to them, police had gathered evidence on their illegal activities, including CCTV footage of them smashing into supermarkets and even buying clothes to wear on raids.
The gang were finally caught on August 11 last year after they were tracked renting out two holiday properties in Cumbria.
They had already seized £128,000 from three cash machines in the area and were in the midst of transporting a stolen Audi on a low loader truck back to their base in the Midlands when members were arrested.
At the wheel was Daniel Hickenbottom, 38, who was found to have shipped the vehicles before and after heists on trailers to avoid detection.
After making a getaway, the cars would be stored at Bloxwich Resprays, owned by Oliver Matthews, 39, who would also drive around the country to assist the gang’s crimes.
All five men either admitted to or were convicted of conspiracy to burgle, handle stolen goods and possess criminal property.
‘A huge amount of planning and preparation went into these offences and the gang showed a high level of sophistication throughout but our detective worked tirelessly to disrupt them and now put them behind bars’, said DS Tom Frenchum.
‘The gang had specific roles – some would carry out the ATM attacks, while others would help with the logistics of transporting the stolen vehicles and the specialist cutting equipment.’
The five are due to be sentenced at a later date.
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