A man has been jailed after stealing thousands of pounds from hundreds of cash machines across the UK, including ATMs in Bristol, Somerset and Wiltshire. Andrei Matei was involved in stealing more than £19,000 from cashpoints as well as causing damage valued at over £30,000 to the machines during his crime spree.
Matei has been sentenced to 27 months in prison. A Romanian national, Matei will be deported once he is released.
He and an accomplice used a specially modified tool to jam open the cash dispenser on the ATMs so they could take money from inside. The investigation started in West Yorkshire but officers in the Yorkshire and Humber Regional Organised Crime Unit (YHROCU) soon established that Matei was carrying out his activities further afield as well, including Bath, Radstock and Devizes.
Officers conducted a painstaking examination of CCTV footage from a number of locations across the UK, including West Yorkshire, London, Wiltshire, Nottinghamshire and Berkshire. Matei was arrested in Nottinghamshire on September 1, 2023, after an August crime rampage that saw him steal from more than 20 ATMs, mostly targeting petrol stations.
He admitted 483 charges of theft from cash machines and criminal damage. Appearing before Leeds Crown Court for sentencing on Wednesday, February 26, the 35-year-old Romanian, formerly of Atherstone Avenue, Crumpsall, Manchester, was sentenced to 27 months.
His offences included stealing cash from ATMs at:
- Shell Garage, Huddersfield on August 9, 2023.
- East Bowling Shell Service Station, Bradford, also on August 9, 2023.
- BP, Pudsey Road, Bradford, on August 9, 2023 and August 23, 2023.
- Shell Garage, Three Nuns, Mirfield, also on August 9 2023.
- Shell Garage, Riverside, Castleford, on August 11, 2023 and on August 23, 2023.
- Spar, Protovens Lane, Outwood, Wakefield also on August 11, 2023.
- Best One Supermarket, Nottingham, also on August 11, 2023.
- BP Garage, Abingdon, Nottingham, also on August, 11, 2023.
- Shell Garage, Newbury, Berkshire, on August 12, 2023.
- Texaco Services, West Acre Services, Salisbury, Wiltshire on August 14, 2023.
- Rontect, London Road, Bath, also on August 14, 2023.
- Co-op, Widcombe, Bath, also on August 14, 2023.
- Shell Garage, Radstock, August 15, 2023.
- Esso Garage, Devizes, Wiltshire, also August 15, 2023.
- Pippin Service Station, Salisbury, Wiltshire, also August 15, 2023.
- Texaco Garage, North Weald, London, on August 16, 2023.
- Shell Garage, Stopsley, Bedfordshire, on August 21, 2023.
- BP Garage, Mansfield Road, Nottingham, on August 23, 2023.