Ram-raiders who used diggers to rip cash machines out of walls across Kent jailed
Watch: CCTV captures the group using diggers to rip cash machines from the walls of businesses across Kent
Two members of a group who used diggers to smash their way through businesses to steal cash machines across Kent have been jailed.
Anthony Pemberthy and Stephen Davenport were sentenced to a combined total of more than 16 years for their part in targetting supermarkets and service stations.
More than £1.5million worth of damage was caused during the thefts and attempted thefts between November 2019 and January 2021.
The case related to six incidents in Kent, where diggers were used in an attempt to remove cash machines and the money they contained from the walls of businesses.
Thursday 14 November 2019 - £30,000 in cash was taken from the Co-up in Cranbrook High Street. A pick-up truck and the cash machine were later recovered in Marden.
Saturday 25 January 2020 - the group raided the Esso petrol station on Cranbrook Road in Staplehurst. Around £80,000-worth of damage was done to the building and around £20,000 in cash was stolen.
Monday 23 March 2020 - the group used a digger to steal two cash machines from the wall of Tesco Extra in Whitfield, near Dover. The vehicles involved drove at officers on foot who attended and rammed two police cars as they left the scene. Over £200,000 was stolen and £40,000 of damage was caused.
Sunday 31 January 2021 - a failed attempt to steal a cash machine at Morrisons in Coldharbour Road in Northfleet.
Sunday 28 February 2021 - a failed attempted to steal a cash machine at Tesco Express in High Street in Dymchurch.
Monday 1 March 2021 - £50,000 in cash was stolen from the Sheel Lychgate petrol station near Dargate.
The total damage, theft and loss incurred in all six offences is estimated at more than £1.8million.
Detectives used advanced DNA techniques to show Davenport was driving the pick-up trucks used during the Cranbrook and Staplehurst offences.
Pemberthy was shown to have operated the diggers used in Staplehurst, Whitfield, Northfleet and Dymchurch.
Officers were also able to prove that, in February 2020, the pair were in convoy with a stolen Range Rover used by the group.
The pair were tracked down and arrested by detectives from the Kent and Essex Serious Crime Directorate following DNA tracing techniques.
Both men admitted to burglary offences ahead of a planned trial at Maidstone Crown Court.
Pemberthy, 44, formerly of Calder Road, Maidstone, was given an eight-year, nine month sentence.
Davenport, 61, formerly of Ashford Road, Maidstone, was handed seven years, five months.
Detective Chief Inspector Christopher Greenstreet, of the Kent and Essex Serious Crime Directorate, said: "I would like to thank businesses and other partner agencies for their help during the investigation.
"Measures to help prevent future offences of this kind are now in place and I hope staff and workers at businesses around the county feel safer knowing that these two men are in jail.
"Pemberthy and Davenport didn't care how much damage they caused, or who they injured, as they committed these shocking offences and the sentences handed down today reflect the seriousness of their criminal behaviour."