Man Jailed After £55k ATM Ram-Raid In West Sussex

Saturday, 20 March 2021 06:00

By Charlotte Baker @Ch4rtweets

A man has been jailed for his part in ram-raiding a Barclays Bank in Henfield in 2018.

Police said an ATM containing more than £50,000 was taken using a JCB digger in the early hours of April 15 that year.

James Sayers, 31, formerly of Guildford, Surrey, appeared at Hove Crown Court on Tuesday 9 March charged with theft and receiving stolen goods.

His Honour Judge Jeremy Gold QC heard how Sayers and his group stole three vehicles.

They then used the hydraulic digger, minus its bucket, to pull the ATM from the wall of the bank in High Street, Henfield at 2am that morning.

The ATM, which contained £55,000 in cash, was loaded into a stolen Nissan Navara pick-up truck and later dumped, along with the pick-up, and burned out in Oakendon Woods, Dunsfold.

As the stolen Audi A6 estate car left the woods, just before 4am, the suspects were confronted by a member of the public whose vehicle they rammed.

Sayers admitted one count of theft, relating to the ATM and its contents; and a second count relating to the JCB Telehander.

He also admitted two counts of receiving stolen goods, relating to the theft of the Nissan Navara and the Audi A6, both between 5 and 16 April 2018.

Sayers also admitted a similar ram-raid at a Co-op store in Didcot, Oxfordshire when he appeared at Hove Crown Court.

Sayers was sentenced to 30 months imprisonment for both offences. The sentence will run concurrently to a five year sentence Sayers is currently serving for a similar ATM ram-raid in Hampshire in 2019.

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