Thugs who caused more than £80,000-worth of damage when they tried to blow up cashpoints have been locked up for their ‘campaign of crime’ across the Black Country. A total of six thieves have been sentenced after a string of ATM machine explosions and car thefts.
The convicts were captured on CCTV repeatedly visiting the scenes of their ‘co-ordinated’ crimes in an attempt to make off with significant sums of cash. Craig Everitt, Matthew Stokes, Mark Harrison, Alexander Blakemore, Jake Parkes and Christopher Rock have now been punished at Wolverhampton Crown Court.
Everitt and Stokes were captured on footage trying to cause an explosion at a free-standing cashpoint in Pelsall High Street on October 3, 2018. They also caused an explosion at a shop in Daisy Street, Coseley, on the same day but failed to grab any cash.
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The pair then attempted to blow up a cashpoint at a petrol station in the Penn area of Wolverhampton. There was a further attempt on a cashpoint in Turnberry Road, Bloxwich, but officers disrupted the criminals who fled the scene at high speeds.
The group attempted to steal from six ATMs across the region but failed to make off with any money at some of the locations, West Midlands Police said. But they caused more than £80,000 damage.
Cars and vans were also stolen, with some used to carry out their crimes. Detective Constable Barry Bevan, from force CID, said: “This was a co-ordinated and planned series of thefts across the region.
“CCTV footage showed them repeatedly visiting the offence locations to prepare for the raids, and trying to cause explosions at the ATMs shows how serious they were about stealing a significant quantity of cash.” All six were sentenced at Wolverhampton Crown Court on June 9:
• Craig Everitt, 44, of Daley Road, Wolverhampton, was jailed for three years and six months
• Matthew Stokes, 34, of Old End Lane, Coseley, was locked up for six years and two months
• Mark Harrison, 41, of Stanbury Avenue, Walsall, was sentenced to four years and two months in prison
• Christopher Rock, 43, of Sydenham Road, Wolverhampton, was handed a 20-month suspended sentence with 180 hours unpaid work
• Alexander Blakemore, 31, of from Carder Crescent, Wolverhampton, was given an 18-month suspended sentence with 180 hours unpaid work
• Jake Parkes, 25, of Powell Place, Wolverhampton, was made subject to a 24-month suspended sentence with 200 hours unpaid work
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