FOUR men suspected of being members of an alleged cash machine robbery gang have been charged by police.

This follows an investigation into a series of 19 attacks on cash machines across England and Wales.

Three of the men, aged 27, 32 and 35, were detained in Moira, Leicestershire, following a pursuit by officers from Cheshire Police’s Serious and Organised Crime Unit.

The fourth man, aged 32, was arrested at a property on Lascelles Street in St Helens after a warrant was executed.

Three arrests were made following a police chase

The investigation began after the ATM at the Nisa Local store on Longshaw Street in Dallam was damaged and cash was stolen at around 2.40am on Good Friday, April 14.

At the time, it was reported that an angle grinder and sledge hammers were used, and when police quickly arrived at the scene, the perpetrators rammed a transit van into their car.

Shortly prior to the four men being arrested, a burglary occurred at a Co-op store on Shortheath Road in Moira at 3.45am on Thursday, July 7.

The store had been broken into in an attempt to steal the cash machine inside, and after the attempt was unsuccessful, the suspects are alleged to have left the location in a black BMW that was stopped and recovered by police.

The scene on Longshaw Street in Dallam

Detectives have now charged the four men who were arrested with conspiracy to commit burglary and robbery.

Arthur Gaskin, 35 and of no fixed address, Lee Leatherbarrow, 32 and of Lascelles Street in St Helens, Luke Price, 32 and of Southward Road in Haydock, and John Price, 27 and of Boathorse Road in Burslem, appeared before Crewe Magistrates’ Court on Saturday.

They were remanded in custody and are next set to appear at Chester Crown Court on Monday, August 8.

The charges relate to 19 attacks on cash machines between March 12 and July 7 this year in Cheshire, Merseyside, Manchester, Staffordshire, Derbyshire, South Yorkshire and Leicestershire.

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