Jailed: Shropshire bank raider used digger to rip out ATM

Jason Pallas, 40, was part of a gang of up to five masked criminals who targeted Lloyds Bank in Cleobury Mortimer.

They stole an ATM containing around £25,000 in cash shortly after 3am on December 21, 2015.

People in the area said the noise caused by the attack on the bank in High Street was “like an earthquake”.

Mr Kevin Jones, prosecuting barrister, told Shrewsbury Crown Court, that in total the missing money and the extensive damage caused amounted to £105,000.

But the defendant was only brought to justice after his DNA was discovered in the burnt out remains of the getaway vehicle.

He said Pallas travelled to the area from Leeds “together with others”.

The gang stole a flat-bed Land Rover near Cleobury Mortimer so that they could load the ATM on the back of it.

In a “sophisticated” and “professional” hit, they also stole a digger which they used to “ram” the wall several times before picking up the cash machine and putting it on the back of the flat-bed and driving it away.

The Land Rover was found burnt out in Hasfield, Gloucester, the following day with traces of Pallas’s DNA found on the tailgate.

The court heard that none of the other gang members was caught.

But that detectives used automatic number plate recognition technology to track the Pallas’s movements before and after the raid.

Mr Jones said they “tracked his journey from Leeds to close to Cleobury Mortimer before the robbery and tracked him back to Leeds afterwards, but there was no sign of him in between those times”.

The digger was recovered near the scene of the burglary.

Pallas, from Leeds, and a serving prisoner, was unrepresented at the hearing. He has several convictions for similar offences. He earlier admitted theft and burglary.

The court heard he was jailed for 15 years for a previous robbery after being recalled to prison in 2016.

For the crimes Judge Peter Barrie sentenced him to a total of four years “starting immediately”.

The judge told him: “You have a long list of previous convictions and substantial periods of custody. You have been recalled to prison several times.

“You were with a group of people who were organised and none of whom have been apprehended apart from you.

“The theft and damage cost a total of £105,000.”

At the time a resident, who witnessed the raid but who did not wish to be named, said: “I was watching TV when I heard a massive bang, it sounded like an earthquake it was so loud.

“I looked out of the window and saw a JCB in front of the bank, that isn’t unusual as farmers sometimes stop there in such vehicles to use the bank.

“But then I saw the JCB reverse into the bank and then do the same thing another twice, I then realised something bad was going on. I rang the police and described what was happening to them.

“I then saw the JCB pull forward and the cash machine was hanging on a hoist at the back of it. It was then lowered onto a Land Rover Defender and driven away.

“I saw the whole thing and from start to finish it didn’t take more than 10 minutes.”