Botched raid on cash machine with angle grinder and sledgehammer
Written by News on 11/03/2017
Footage has emerged of a gang using an angle grinder during a botched raid on a post office cash machine.
The images show sparks flying through security shutters at the front of the shop before the barrier is hacked down with a sledgehammer.
West Midlands Police said Simon Phillips, 38, used the circular saw before Terry McMahon, 33, deployed the sledgehammer.
The pair and fellow gang members Adrian Peach, 29, and 38-year-old Dennis Carr then used a large crowbar to try to prise open the cash machine.
The manager of the shop in Wollaston confronted the men, who left empty-handed after realising officers were on the way.
They were apprehended after fleeing in a stolen car.
Police released the footage after the gang were sentenced on Friday at Birmingham Crown Court for the raid, which happened in September.
All four admitted conspiracy to commit burglary, while Phillips and Peach also admitted a separate attack at a pizza shop months earlier.
They were each jailed for eight years, while McMahon and Carr were sentenced to six years.
Detective Constable Bev Johnson, said: "These are dangerous men who used heavy-duty tools to crudely hack their way into shops.
"Thankfully no one was injured but we shouldn’t underestimate the psychological impact for victims coming face to face with masked men wielding weapons."
(c) Sky News 2017: Botched raid on cash machine with angle grinder and sledgehammer
