A gang of 13​ men were jailed yesterday after a string of raids on cash machines - including two in Gloucestershire.

The 13-strong organised crime gang were jailed at Leicester Crown Court for a total of 78 years and three months.

Police said the group stole nearly £450,000 in cash after a series of raids on ATMs – most at Co-op stores – across the country using Oxyacetylene cutting equipment.

The group admitted to and were found guilty of 17 burglaries across 10 different counties and were handed sentences ranging from three to eight years each.

As well as raids at the Mitcheldean Co-op, in September 2008, and the Churchdown Co-op, in October 2008, where nothing was taken in either incident, the gang also targeted cash machines in Leicestershire, Staffordshire, Lincolnshire, Cheshire, and Cambridgeshire.

Speaking after the sentences, Superintendent Phil Smith, who led the investigation, said: “The defendants have pleaded to a total of 17 burglaries which is a substantial number.

“In total over the entire course of our investigation we looked at 40 crimes that we believed were linked.

“The fact that since we arrested and remanded the crime group there was only one further attack says a lot about the thoroughness of the investigation and those involved.

“Certainly the way they operated was very distinct and similar in all the crimes they pleaded to.

“They all involved Oxyacetylene cutting equipment which was often left at the scene; they all wore gloves and balaclavas and they all involved the use of two or more cars on cloned plates.”

A spokesman for Midlands Co-operative Society Limited added: “Naturally, we are delighted with the court’s ruling and that the perpetrators are now behind bars.

“Many of the ATMs attacked were located in our retail stores and the attacks not only caused considerable disruption for our customers but also to our business."