Black Country gang jailed after ATM explosions and vehicle thefts | News

The gang targeted places across the West Midlands

A group of burglars and vehicle thieves who carried out a campaign of crime across the Black Country have been jailed.

Craig Everitt, Matthew Stokes, Mark Harrison, Alexander Blakemore, Jake Parkes, and Christopher Rock were all jailed after a series of ATM machine explosions and car thefts across the West Midlands.

On 3 October 2018, Everitt and Stokes were caught on CCTV attempting to cause an explosion at a free-standing cashpoint in Pelsall High Street.

On the same day, they succeeded in causing an explosion at a shop in Daisy Street, Coseley, but were unable to take any money.

This was followed by another attempt, this time at a petrol station in Penn, Wolverhampton, and another in Turnberry Road, Bloxwich.

The Bloxwich offences were disrupted by officers, resulting in them fleeing the scene at high speeds.

In total, the group attempted to steal from six ATMs across both the West Midlands and West Mercia.

Despite failing to steal money in several of the incidents, they caused more than £80,000 in damage and stole a number of cars and vans during this period, some of which were used to carry out the offences.

All six were sentenced at Wolverhampton Crown Court on 9 June to:

• Craig Everitt, aged 44 from Daley Road, Wolverhampton – three years and six months in prison
• Matthew Stokes, aged 34 from Old End Lane, Coseley – six years and two months in prison
• Mark Harrison, aged 41 from Stanbury Avenue, Walsall – four years and two months in prison
• Christopher Rock, aged 43 from Sydenham Road, Wolverhampton – 20-month suspended sentence with 180 hours unpaid work
• Alexander Blakemore, aged 31 from Carder Crescent, Wolverhampton – 18-month suspended sentence with 180 hours unpaid work
• Jake Parkes, aged 25 from Powell Place, Wolverhampton – 24-month suspended sentence with 200 hours unpaid work

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.”