Pair jailed for ram-raid spree including Telford store

Among the raids carried out by them was one at Tesco Extra, in Arleston, where they stole £27,820 and caused £24,000 of damage.

Lance Taiani, 29, of Station Road, Keynsham, Bristol, was jailed for three years and four months at Maidstone Crown Court and his co-accused, Paul O'Shea, 32, of St David's Crescent, Bristol, received four years.

O'Shea already had a record for burglary and robbery.

The court was told that over an eight-month period in 2013 the pair, who pleaded guilty to conspiracy to steal, carried out 14 raids on cash machines throughout the country.

In a rampage which ranged through nine counties – Shropshire, Hampshire, Kent, Warwickshire, Leicestershire, Lincolnshire, Surrey, Herefordshire and Northamptonshire – O'Shea and Taiani left a trail of destruction as they attacked cash machines.

But it was their techniques that helped lead to their downfall. Taini was linked to the raids after a DNA profile was taken from a tub which had contained water thrown into one machine in a bid to disable it.

This, coupled with evidence from satnavs taken from vehicles they had used and automatic number plate recognition resulted in them being arrested, the court heard.

The raids by the pair began in Kent's county town of Maidstone in April 2013. Other raids were later carried out in the county at Ashford.

Another raid happened in Leominster, across the Shropshire border in Herefordshire.

As he sentenced the pair, Judge Philip Statman told them: "There were rich pickings available for both of you. This was professional criminality."

However, he questioned their expertise telling them : "Neither of you were at the top of the chain. If that had been the case there would have been a far greater level of sophistication."