CCTV footage shows UEA cash machine burglary Published duration 2 October 2014

media caption The footage shows the cash machine flying through the air of a lobby at the University of East Anglia

Dramatic footage has been released showing thieves stealing a cash machine before their vehicle is rammed and stopped by a police car.

CCTV shows the masked gang tying a tow rope around the machine at the University of East Anglia, Norwich, and pulling it free using a 4x4 vehicle.

Footage from inside a Norfolk Police car shows how the vehicle was forced off the road on 2 December.

Three men were jailed for their part in the incident and other burglaries.

Det Sgt Richard Dickinson, of Norfolk Police, said: "It was fortunate no-one was injured when the gang carried out the raids as the technique used resulted in the cash machines flying through the air."

image copyright Norfolk Police image caption The cash machine was forcibly removed from the University of East Anglia in December

image copyright Norfolk Police image caption The gang tied a tow rope to the machine before tugging it from the ground with the help of their 4x4

image copyright Norfolk Police image caption Police said it was lucky no-one was hurt by the 'flying' cash machine

Police said they had received information suggesting the university was going to be targeted by the gang, who they suspected of carrying out three other ram-raids, in Weeting, Easton and Bowthorpe, in Norfolk.

They were also thought to be involved in a series of house burglaries in Norfolk, Suffolk and Cambridgeshire, where "high-powered vehicles" were stolen, with some being used in the cash machine raids.

The CCTV footage shows how at 20:16 GMT on 2 December, the black Mercedes pulled up outside the entrance to the students union in Norwich.

The cash machine, which contained more than £10,000, is shown being ripped from its base and flung across the lobby.

Police moved in and caught John Stanley Loveridge, 19, of Greenways, Newton Flotman, Norfolk, and Leonard Smith, 34, of Moat Way, Swavesey, Cambridgeshire, after a "short foot pursuit".

image copyright Norfolk Police image caption Norfolk Police chased two of the men on foot and forced the other off the road

image copyright Norfolk Police contributed image caption John Eli Loveridge, John Stanley Loveridge and Leonard Smith were sentenced at Norwich Crown Court

John Eli Loveridge, 38, of Beck Row, Mildenhall, was arrested after the police rammed the 4x4.

Loveridge Snr was jailed for six years and his son sentenced to four years' youth custody, after both admitted two counts of conspiring to commit burglaries.

Smith jailed for four years at Norwich Crown Court after admitting one count of conspiring to commit a burglary.