ATM gang members jailed after getting lost in Aberdeen Published duration 29 August 2018

image caption The incident happened at a Spar shop in Aberdeen

A cash machine raider who was caught after his partner flagged down police for directions has been jailed for 52 months.

Officers arrested everyone in the Vauxhall over a smell of cannabis, including Ellis Boyd, 26, whose DNA matched the robbery.

Boyd was part of a masked gang of five involved in the attempted raid at a Spar store in Aberdeen in March.

Co-accused Ian Jones, 33, who acted as lookout, was jailed for 56 months.

The High Court in Glasgow heard Jones has 47 previous convictions and that both men posed a high risk of re-offending.

'Cause injury'

The judge, Lady Scott, told them: "You fed a gas pipe through the ATM and caused an explosion.

"This has become more prevalent in Aberdeen, especially involving criminals coming from Liverpool.

"This was a well-planned enterprise.

"I accept that there was no intention to cause injury to anyone.

image caption The damage to the ATM amounted to £455

"You both have well-established criminal life styles."

On 6 March the pair, who had travelled up from Liverpool in a stolen Audi Q5, fed tubing attached to a gas cylinder into the machine before igniting it.

But they failed to force the ATM door open.

The gang then rammed the glass door of the shop, on Clifton Road, with a lottery sign before they kicked their way inside.

Foot patrol

The car was abandoned with false plates just over a quarter of a mile from the store.

CCTV footage showed the men leaving Aberdeen by train to head down south.

However, weeks later Boyd was back in Aberdeen in a Vauxhall Astra when his driver girlfriend signalled to police on foot patrol because she was lost. Everyone in the car was detained as a result after the officers smelled cannabis in the car.

DNA found on copper piping at the end of a hose that was fed into the ATM linked Boyd to the raid.

Jones' DNA was found on the abandoned Audi Q5.

In June both men admitted unlawfully and maliciously causing an explosion likely to endanger life or cause serious damage.

They also admitted trying to force open the machine with intent to steal it.

Defence counsel Iain Smith, representing Jones, said: "He has expressed remorse for this.

"He came to Scotland with his co-accused and thought they were going to steal a car."

Defence counsel Craig Findlater, representing Boyd, told the court: "This was an incident which was unsuccessful. No money was taken."

The court was told the damage to the ATM amounted to £455.