Four men who committed 19 burglaries targeting ATMs in supermarkets stole hundreds of thousands of pounds, a court has heard.
Arthur Gaskin, 35, of no fixed abode, Lee Leatherbarrow, 33, of Lascelles Street, St Helens, Crimea Price, 32, of The Pines, Newton-Le-Willows, and John Price, 27, of Newport Street, Stoke, appeared at Liverpool Crown Court on Monday to be sentenced for 19 burglaries in supermarkets and thefts from ATM machines across the country. Crimea Price and Gaskin admitted to 13 burglaries, John Price admitted four and Leatherbarrow admitted nine.
Henry Riding, prosecuting, detailed that Cheshire Police opened an investigation, dubbed Operation Hades, into a string of night-time burglaries of commercial premises, from which ATM machines inside would be broken into and the contents stolen. He said the “highly organised” group used stolen Ford Transit vans to assist in the thefts and high speed vehicles such as a stolen Volkswagen Type R, a BMW M4, and BMW M440i, as they were “easily able to outrun most police vehicles” when pursued.
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Mr Riding said: “Once the location to be targeted had been identified, and a day selected upon which to burgle the premises in question, the following carefully planned chain of events were then executed.
“The group communicated using conventional mobile phones throughout the day in question and a meeting place was agreed upon. Their telecoms devices would either remain static at their respective home addresses or travel to the agreed rendezvous points where their telecoms devices would thereafter remain static and inactive at that location with no outgoing activity undertaken during the period in which the burglary was executed.”
Two of those rendezvous locations were identified as The Pines, in Warrington, Crimea Price’s address, and Pony Paddocks, in Doncaster, Arthur Gaskins address. Mr Riding continued: “Once stolen, the van was then driven in convoy together with the getaway vehicle to the location of the store that was to be targeted, where the van was backed up to the shutters, a hole was cut in the shutters with a Stihl Saw or angle grinder, and entry gained to the premises.
“Once entry to the premises had been gained, a large wrecking bar or similar was used to remove the outer door of the Wincor 1500 ATM machine exposing the further internal door with a small letter box style opening in it. A long heavy duty strap was fixed to the tow-bar of the van and a hook at the other end of the strap was connected to the opening in the internal door to the ATM machine.
“Then having taken precautions to ensure their safety, the van was driven off at high speed ripping off the internal door to the ATM machine. Finally, the gang would enter the store with further tools to free those cash cassettes that had not been fully exposed.”
The vehicles were used with a variety of cloned, false number plates relating to vehicles of similar makes and models, whose numbers obtained from vehicles advertised online on websites such as Auto-trader. Following his arrest, blank number plates and equipment used to print number plates were located at a lockup used by Leatherbarrow.
Mr Riding specified that some of the burglaries took place in a Co-Op in Ermine Street, Lincolnshire, a Nisa on Longshaw Street, Warrington, a Co-op, Commercial Road, Huddersfield, a Co-Op, Shortheath Road, Moira, Swadlincote, a McColls in Peckers Hill Road, St Helens, a Co-Op Leek New Road, Stoke-On-Trent, and Co-Op service station, Chesterfield Road, Chesterfield, between May and July last year.
In total, Crimea Price and Arthur Gaskin stole £391,710, John Price succeeded in stealing £98,520, and Lee Leatherbarrow stole £293,190. All clients pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit burglary and Crimea Price also pleaded guilty to one count of driving while disqualified.
Crimea Price has six previous convictions for ten offences between 2014 and 2021, including conspiracy to steal a vehicle, going equipped for burglary, aggravated vehicle taking, and dangerous driving. Gaskin has eight previous convictions for 19 offences, between 2006 and 2018, including conspiracy to steal, conspiracy to handle stolen goods, burglary with intent to steal, both in a dwelling and in a non-dwelling, and burglary and theft of a vehicle.
John Price has eight previous convictions for 16 offences between 2010 and 2017, including burglary and theft in a dwelling. Finally, Leatherbarrow has 26 previous convictions for 46 offences between 2005 and 2019, including burglary in a non-dwelling, conspiracy to burgle with intent to steal, and burglary and theft of a dwelling.
Sean Summerfield, defending Crimea Price, said his client described his part-taking in the crimes as “stupid, idiotic, embarrassing and something I will regret for the rest of my life.” Judge David Aubrey KC interjected: “It's difficult to accept the sincerity of it all, I wonder how many times in the past he has said I severely regret my actions.”
Mr Summerfield continued: “This is a defendant that has expressed remorse for his offences and a custodial impact will not just have an effect on him but also on his young family.” He added that Price is making substantial progress in prison, has learned to read and write, and is considered an enhanced prisoner.
Paul Becker, defending Gaskin, said: “The defendant has written a letter, he has expressed his regret, his remorse, and his shame for the 13 terrible offences. “He appreciates that his offences have caused financial loss and stress to others.”
Mr Becker detailed that Gaskin had a “serious gambling addiction which led to considerable debt”. He said his client has also completed several courses in custody and is an enhanced prisoner.
John Mail, defending John Price, said: “He doesn't seek to pass the blame or pass the buck and accepts fully everything that has been put forward.” He highlighted that his client has not been before court since 2017, came to the offences later on, and “accepts responsibility fully”.
He said Price is married with three young children, and has had limited contact with them since being on remand because they live in Newark and his wife cannot drive. Robin Howat, defending Leatherbarrow, said: “He for one, certainly hasn’t taken his position lightly, sadly he took a serious attempt to end his own life last year, on two occasions he was cut down in prison.”
He detailed that Leatherbarrow joined the existing conspiracy late, and after losing his job “resorted to his old ways and easily went along with those who invited him to get back involved with criminality.” In sentencing, Judge Aubrey said: “You were operating as a gang and targeting in the main, stores which had inside the premises, an ATM machine, which are the lifeblood for many and in particular customers who used those stores.
“It was an extremely sophisticated operation and required meticulous preparation. The premises would first be targeted, having first been identified by way of reconnaissance, and then put in place was a carefully planned operation.”
He said there was “a military precision” in how they committed the crimes, and said the court did not accept there was any genuine remorse felt. Crimea Price was sentenced to eight years imprisonment, Gaskin and Leatherbarrow were both sentenced to seven and a half years, and John Price was sentenced to six years.
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