West Midlands cash machine raid gang ordered to repay £200K

A gang who stole hundreds of thousands of pounds by hauling cash machines out of shops, cafes and a hospital must repay £200,000.

Machines across the West Midlands and Staffordshire were targeted in a burglary spree lasting almost a year.

The five men were jailed in 2019 and four of them have now been ordered to repay the stolen money within three months or risk increased jail terms.

Money will be repaid to the cash machine operators, police said.

Between 2018 and 2019, the gang, comprising ring leader Craig Matthews, Charlie Ward, David Bradley, Kenneth Bourne and Shane Stojsavljevic would heave free-standing machines from venues.

One of their targets was Birmingham's Queen Elizabeth Hospital, where they loaded a cash machine on to a trolley and walked out past members of the public.

They also stole cash machines from a Spar shop in Tamworth, a post office in Lichfield and the Midland Arts Centre in Birmingham.

All the offenders apart from David Bradley have been ordered to repay some of the money. West Midlands Police confirmed it was pursuing a similar case against a fifth man.

At Birmingham Crown Court, Matthews, 44, of Benmore Avenue in Edgbaston, was ordered to pay the majority - £137,861.80 - and was told his sentence will be increased by one year and nine months if he failed to do so.

Ward, 29, of Pepys Corner in Tile Hill, Coventry, was ordered to repay £21,000 or have his five-year sentence increased by one year.

Bourne, 41, of Nuneaton Road, Fillongley, Warwickshire, must pay £8,300 or face an extra six months behind bars and Stojsavljevic, 38, from Hermes Crescent, Henley Green, Coventry, was ordered to repay £16,500 to avoid an extra 10 months in prison.

Follow BBC West Midlands on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Send your story ideas to: [email protected]