Pair sentenced after £23,000 damage in Shropshire railway station raids

A crowbar was used to attack the machines in July last year before the thieves escaped with bags of coins, leaving a £23,000 repair bill.

In all more than £40,000 damage was caused to automatic ticket machines at railway stations in Shropshire and Gloucestershire when £2,000 in cash was stolen in the raids.

Six days after the Shropshire raids a similar one was carried out at a rural station in Gloucestershire and a short time later three people were stopped in a van in Stroud by police.

Two of them, Rashad Dad, 33, and 19-year-old Georgia Hawkins, were sentenced for their roles in the raids when they appeared at Shrewsbury Crown Court.

Dad, of Nelson House, High Street, Wellington, was given a 16 month sentence suspended for two years, a six-month electronically monitored curfew, one year's supervision and drug rehabilitation order and must pay £1,000 compensation.

He had admitted theft and damage charges relating to the incident at Kemble, near Cirencester, on July 14 last year.

The court heard that three people were seen on the CCTV system when £18,000 damage was caused to ticket machines at the station and £450 in cash was taken.

Mr Kevin Jones, prosecuting, said Hawkins was acting as a lookout and had used an umbrella in a bid to block the view of a camera.

Dad's palm print was recovered from the damaged ticket machine and Hawkins was later linked to the Shropshire raids.

At Telford Central Station the damage was estimated at £8,000 in an attempted theft. An hour later at Wellington station £15,000 damage was caused and almost £1,600 in cash stolen.

Hawkins, of Wharf Road, Kings Norton, was given a total of two years custody at a young offenders institution suspended for two years.

In addition she was given 18 months supervision, placed on a six-month monitored curfew and ordered to pay £300 compensation to a burglary victim.

Hawkins admitted her part in the thefts and pleaded guilty to being involved in a burglary at a friend's address in Birmingham while on bail for the railway station incidents.

Mr Jones said in December last year Hawkins, along with her then boyfriend, burgled the home of one of her friend's while he was away over the Christmas period.

He said among £1,500 worth of property taken was a laptop containing irreplaceable family photographs and an X-Box console and games.

In March this year the burglary victim spotted the limited edition X-Box at a Cash Convertors store where Hawkins had sold it for £300. He was able to match the serial numbers and Hawkins was arrested.