Case featured on BBC2’s ‘Forensics: The Real CSI’ prosecuted by John Lloyd-Richards leading Richard Witcombe
John Lloyd-Richards led Richard Witcombe in the prosecution of a case featured on BBC2’s ‘Forensics: The Real CSI’ programme.
Between June and August 2025, the trial took place of a highly organised criminal group who operated between January and October 2024. This group set about a series of burglaries of banks and shops targeting the ATM machines. In total, nine different ATM attacks took place with the offenders managing to steal just over £673,000.
The gang used stolen Audi RS vehicles on cloned plates to transport themselves to the offence locations. They used a business premises in Bloxwich as a base of operations and a low loader vehicle transporter to move vehicles around the country in an effort to avoid detection.
Their offending covered the West Midlands, Somerset, the Home Counties and extended up to Cumbria.
A distinctive feature of the offending was the use of Jaws of Life which are hydraulic rescue tools ordinarily used by emergency rescue personnel to extricate victims in vehicle accidents or the like. Here they were used to prize off the backs of cash machines to access the cash cassettes inside. Angle grinders were also used to cut through the reinforced hinges on the cash machines.
The case involved stitching together CCTV, ANPR, cell site and forensic evidence to prove a complex circumstantial case.
In total, 5 Defendants were convicted of the offending.
The episode is available on BBC iPlayer: Forensics: The Real CSI – Series 6: 4. Catching the Cash Raiders – BBC iPlayer
John Lloyd-Richards and Richard Witcombe were instructed by the CPS West Midlands Complex Case Unit to prosecute the case at Wolverhampton Crown Court.
