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Smash and grab gang that hauled out cash machines and robbed security van jailed for total of 30 years
Five men from Liverpool and Torquay sentenced after string of raids and a violent attack on a G4S security guard
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Phil GoodwinContributor
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A violent robbery gang who robbed £11,440 from a security guard in Brixham and tried to steal cashpoint machines from shops in Paignton and Dartmouth have been jailed for a total of 30 years.
Five men, four from Liverpool and one from Torquay, smashed their way into two Co-op stores in Paignton and Dartmouth, wrapped heavy-duty straps around ATMs, and tried to haul them out of the shops.
Three of the men were also involved in the violent robbery of a G4S security guard who was carrying the cash from the Santander bank in Brixham.
Their reckless antics were captured on CCTV. Film shows the robbers hitting the guard over the head and escaping in a getaway car waiting around the corner.
A failed shop burglary at Cherry Brook in Paignton was also recorded on CCTV. It shows a strap lashed to the ATM as the men tried to haul the free-standing machine out of the store with a van.
Exeter Crown Court
Five men all admitted playing some part in the series of raids, which sparked a major police operation last year. The police search led to a holiday cottage near Newton Abbot where the men were holed up.
Jonny Vaughan, 21, of Lyme Grove, Liverpool; Robin Vaughan Junior, 27, of Huyton and Peter Atkinson, 18, of Scotchbarn Lane, Prescot, Merseyside all admitted conspiracy to rob a G4S security guard of £11,440 in Brixham in May 2016.
James Brewer, 35, of Brookwood Street, Liverpool, Ian Harris, 36, of Hele Road, Torquay; Robin and Jonny Vaughan, all pleaded guilty to conspiracy to burgle.
They were sentenced by Judge Erik Salomonsen at Exeter Crown Court.
He said "CCTV seen in court shows shutters being forced away, glass being smashed and straps being attached, with some ineptitude it has to be said."
Prosecutor Don Tait said four of the defendants came down from Liverpool in 2015. They were based for some of that time at a holiday bungalow at Rydon Hall Farm off Denbury Road in Ogwell.
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On May 18 at about 10.45pm the Vaughan brothers and Atkinson snatched cash from G4S security guard as he left the Santander bank in Brixham.
Mr Tait said: "As he was walking to the van with the cassette which had been removed from the ATM he was struck over the head by one of the men with an unknown weapon. Two of them then ran and made their escape with the cassette back to an alleyway where the getaway vehicle was arriving."
Cash machine
The guard's colleague watched helplessly inside the bank while his workmate was attacked. He said his training expressly forbid him from trying to help and the episode had had a deep psychological impact on him as a result.
The first ATM raid took place on April 23 in Dartmouth when the men tried to use a Land Rover to pull a cash machine from the Co-op store. The burglary failed when part of the tow bar on the vehicle broke and the men left empty handed.
On May 31, four members of the gang tried their luck again at the Cherry Brook Co-op in Paignton.
At about 3.15am a woman living in flats nearby heard banging on metal and saw two men trying to force their way into the shop and a white van revving outside.
"CCTV seized later shows the bottom of the shutter being forced away and glass broken by large rocks," said Mr Tait.
"There are at least four offenders present. Two pulled shutters and two others climbed in."
The CCTV shows heavy duty strapping being wrapped around the ATM. But the burglary failed when it snapped and the vehicle sped forward into an aquarium opposite.
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The raid caused about £11,000 of damage to the shop.
Mr Tait said the raiders had attempted to 'defy the laws of physics as to where the strap was located', leading inevitably to the strap snapping.
Forensics later linked the defendants with a number of vehicles used while the gang were active in south Devon. Some had been purchased on Gumtree shortly before the burglaries. False plates had been fitted to some of them to avoid detection and false names provided to the sellers.
A major police investigation was launched and the men were traced to the bungalow which they had rented in Ogwell near Newton Abbot.
As officers closed in on the men in June 2016 they panicked and escaped out of the back of the property and fled to a house in nearby Westwood Road, said Mr Tait. From there they called a taxi and went to a house in Lymington Road, Torquay.
In the bungalow police found mobile phones linking the men to the crimes, heavy duty strapping, clothing used in the burglaries, and other incriminating evidence.
The police investigation also made use of CCTV at the farm in Ogwell which recorded the men arriving and leaving at various times before and after the crimes were committed.
Jonny Vaughan was jailed for seven years.
Andrew Nuttall, defending, said he was a 'delightful' man in every other respect of his life and cared for members of his family. He handed the judge some artwork created by the defendant and said he had a 'extraordinary talent'. He said the defendant had been influenced by his brother. He has no previous convictions.
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Atkinson was jailed for three years and eight months.
Peter Atkinson was jailed for three years and eight months.
David Miller, defending, said he was only 17 at the time. He was naïve and vulnerable. He has previous convictions for battery.
Robert Vaughan Jnr was jailed for 10 years.
Tarquin McCalla, defending, said the burglaries were incompetently carried out. He said his client did not know a weapon would be used to rob the security guard and he simply drove the getaway car.
Mr McCalla said Robert Vaughan was a talented footballer and his name had been put forward as a FA coach.
Vaughan has 13 convictions for theft, drugs and firearms to his name.
Brewer was jailed for four years and eight months.
James Brewer was jailed for four years and eight months.
Frances Hertzog, defending Brewer, said he was only involved in the burglary at the Paignton Co-op. He was also sentenced for unconnected shoplifting and supplying cocaine and heroin offences.
Harris was sentenced to three years and seven months behind bars.
Ian Harris was sentenced to three years and seven months behind bars.
Lee Bremridge, for Harris, said he had no knowledge of the Dartmouth burglary. He said Harris was a 'local man used by this group because of his local knowledge'.
He got involved with the men at a low point in his life after he became addicted to drugs. He was now a father with a steady partner and a business as a landscape gardener.
Detective Inspector Kay Chapman said: "We welcome today's sentence. A significant amount of work went into this complex investigation in order to bring the offenders to court. The tenacious investigation by Torbay CID was in-depth and supported by the prosecution teams.
"I thank all of the victims and witnesses for their co-operation, patience and support. One of these incidents caused significant traumatic impact to one of the security guards and we hope today's sentencing shows that justice has been done."
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