Gang jailed after £1.2million conspiracy to burgle homes and blow up cash machines
Five men who were part of a £1.2million conspiracy to target homes and cash machines across Hampshire, Dorset and Surrey have been jailed for more than 50 years between them.
The gang's 'audacious' spree saw them steal high-powered cars, money, jewellery, motorbikes, bicycles and even a one-year-old French Bulldog - which was later returned to its owners.
Police say the men put people's lives at risk during a string of 14 attempted ATM explosions, of which only 3 were 'successful'.
Destroying the cash points alone caused a total of £255,928 in damages and losses for the affected businesses.
During one of the ATM explosions, a family was asleep in the flat above where the fire was started, while another led to the evacuation of a student halls of residence in Southampton.
Watch the moment the gang targets cash machines across the region
How they targeted the cash machines:
When carrying out the attacks on the ATMs, they would break open the machine, before pumping petrol in using a hose and then igniting it, in the hope of causing a violent explosion to gain access to the money held inside.
In the majority of instances, the men fled the scene empty-handed, with no explosion having occurred.
However, the fires that remained caused thousands of pounds worth of damage.
And in one of the attacks, at a Tesco Express in Bishopstoke, when the ATM failed to explode, a stolen Land Rover Defender was unsuccessfully rammed into the ATM in an attempt to gain access, causing structural damage to the building.
In sentencing them on Friday (25 February), a judge slammed the gang's actions as the 'worst kind of criminality', which was 'motivated by unadulterated greed'.
Ringleader David Patrick Hughes, 31, of Street End Close, Hook, pleaded guilty to two counts of conspiring to steal, conspiring to burgle and conspiring to cause an explosion.
He was jailed for 17 years.
The four others pleaded guilty to the following offences:
Cameron Chivers, 24, of Lydgate Road, Southampton, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to cause an explosion, two counts of conspiracy to steal, and conspiracy to burgle. He was jailed for eight years and four months.
Colin Golding, 26, of Reading Road, Farnborough, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to cause an explosion, conspiracy to steal, and conspiracy to burgle. He was jailed for nine years.
Adam Jones, 31, of Little Abshot Road, Fareham, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to cause an explosion, two counts of conspiracy to steal, and conspiracy to burgle. Jones also pleaded guilty to failing to disclose a key contrary to Section 49 RIPA, namely failing to provide a PIN for a mobile phone. He was jailed for 13 and a half years.
Jesse Matthews, 21, of Coniston Road, Bordon, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to cause an explosion and conspiracy to steal. He was jailed for six years and eight months
Jones also pleaded guilty to failing to disclose a key contrary to Section 49 RIPA, namely failing to provide a PIN for a mobile phone.
Hughes, Jones, Chivers and Golding must serve at least two thirds of their sentence and it was ordered Matthews must serve half of his.