A gang who forced Kenilworth's Tesco to close for months after trying to break into its cash machine have been jailed for a combined 30 years.

West Midlands Police announced the four men have been jailed after targeting ATM's across the region.

In the early hours of September 30 emergency services were called to the Leyes Lane supermarket where thieves had set fire to the shop while trying to break into the cash machine.

Tesco Express did not reopen again until December.

At Birmingham Crown Court on Monday, (8 April) Justin Buckley, aged 40, of Brindle Court, Hall Green, Birmingham was jailed for eight years and four months.

Chris Hands, aged 37, of Addison Road, Kings Heath, was jailed for nine years and six months. In addition to the conspiracy charges, he admitted a charge of burglary.

Reece Pedley, aged 34, Pendeen Road, Yardley Wood, was jailed for seven years and seven months.

John O'Shaughnessy, aged 36, of Playdon Grove, Kings Heath, was jailed for eight years.

The Leyes Lane supermarket was closed until December (Image by Alison Insley)

According to Kenilworth Watch, two of the gang admitted their involvement in the burglary where CCTV caught them arriving in a car before they used crowbars to force entry to the shop and then used an angle grinder to cut open the cash machine.

The sparks from the angle grinder caused a fire that spread to a neighbouring shop, causing more than £1 million of damage.

The Birmingham gang used vehicles stolen in burglaries to target shops across the West Midlands, using force to threaten anyone who got in their way.

The gang struck over the space of a year between 2022 and 2023, in places as far afield as Gloucestershire, Oxfordshire, Warwickshire and West Mercia.

The four men admitted conspiracy to burgle and conspiracy to handle stolen vehicles and goods, but each of the men admitted their roles in only some of the raids.

Between them, they admitted taking part in 17 different offences. The gang admitted handling stolen fire service cutting equipment. We traced some of it back to a break-in in Warwickshire where £50,000 worth of specialist tools were stolen from a station in 2022.

On 31 August last year, Reece Pedley was among a group of men who arrived at Snappy Tomato Pizza in Coventry and used specialist cutting equipment to steal thousands of pounds from the cash machine.

The aftermath of the fire in Kenilworth (Image via West Midlands Police)

And on 7 September last year, all four of the men struck at Tesco on Hewlett Road, Cheltenham.

A stolen BMW on false plates pulled up and three of the gang used a saw and crowbars to force their way into a cash machine, while a fourth acted as a lookout.

As police arrived, the gang threw rocks and bricks at officers, forcing one of the officers to crouch behind his car. Another threw a brick at the front passenger window where an officer was sat.

The gang rammed the police car out of the way before making off.

Using a combination of mobile phone data, CCTV, vehicle tracking data and witness accounts, the gang was identified and arrested in November and December last year.

DC Edward Costello, from West Midlands Police's Major Crime Proactive Team, said: "This was a professional and organised criminal gang who stole hundreds of thousands of pounds from businesses, and weren't afraid to use force to get what they wanted.

"They threatened and used significant force against civilians and police who tried to intervene, and they were persistent.

"On one day, they broke into a Tesco Express near Oxford, but found the cash machine empty. Two hours later, they struck at a Tesco Express in Warwickshire.

"They knew where these machines were and how to access them.

"Everyone knew their role, whether it was acting as a lookout or cutting into the machines.

"The theft of the equipment obviously compromised the ability of the fire service to protect communities.

"Thankfully, we've now brought them to justice and they will be spending many years behind bars."