Angle grinder gang gets 28 years for raid
A gang who smashed their way into a Black Country post office using an angle grinder and a sledgehammer have been jailed for 28 years.
CCTV footage showed sparks flying as crook Simon Phillips used a circular saw to hack away at metal shutters at the post office in Wollaston, Stourbridge.
Accomplice Terry McMahon then begun hammering away at the mangled shutter with a sledgehammer as the masked raiders forced their way in.
Along with fellow gang members Adrian Peach and Dennis Carr, they then used a crowbar to try and prise open an ATM machine.
But their burglary attempt last September was thwarted as the post office manager bravely confronted the men before they fled empty-handed realising the police were on their way.
The gang sped away in a blue Audi, which had been stolen from an address in Bromsgrove three months earlier – but were soon spotted by officers responding to the 999 call.
The getaway car was abandoned in Clent Way, Bartley Green, Birmingham where Phillips, 38, and 33-year-old McMahon were found by officers lying low in a hedgerow.
Peach, 29, and 38-year-old Carr were spotted ducking into the foyer of a block of flats and later arrested in nearby Bucknall Crescent. An angle grinder was recovered from the Audi and clothing used during the raid found discarded in the flats’ communal entrance.
All four admitted conspiracy to commit burglary at Birmingham Crown Court with Phillips, of Beckbury Road, Weoley Castle, Birmingham, who was out of prison on licence following several disc cutter attacks on ATM machines, and Peach, of Kitwood Avenue, Tamworth, also admitting another shop attack at Snappy Tomato Pizza in Chelmsley Wood, Birmingham, on 18 June.
They were jailed for eight years each while McMahon, from Rudyard Grove, Kitts Green, Birmingham, and Carr from Princess Anne Drive, Rubery, Birmingham, were handed six-year terms.
Investigating officer, Detective Constable Bev Johnson, from West Midlands Police, said: “These are dangerous men who used heavy-duty tools to crudely hack their way into shops. Thankfully no-one was injured but we shouldn’t underestimate the psychological impact for victims coming face to face with masked men wielding weapons.”
