SIX men - including three from the Bishop Auckland area - have been jailed for a botched supermarket cash machine raid.

Newcastle Crown Court on Monday heard five of the would-be thieves were caught red-handed during the incident at the Co-operative store, in Corbridge, Northumberland, which lasted just three minutes.

The sixth man was arrested shortly after in the nearby village of Slaley where he was found in a Transit van believed to be the getaway vehicle for the planned burglary in the early hours of January 8.

The Northern Echo:

Neil Lowes, Ronald Thexton and Anthony Hallimond

Appearing from custody having pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit burglary at a hearing earlier, each of the six was handed a prison sentence ranging from two to three years.

Gavin Doig, prosecuting, told the court on the night of January 7 a detective spotted John Robert Barker and Kenneth Yorke at around 4am on Hill Street.

The pair used a crow bar and bolt cutters to force their way through a metal gate and into the shop while DC Marsden alerted other officers.

Having activated the alarm, the pair tried to smash their way into the shop's ATM machine.

CCTV footage captured three more men, Neil Lowes, Thomas LLoyd and Ronald Thexton, arrived outside in an Audi.

Clad in dark clothes, gloves, hoods and balaclavas, the bungling five were seen attempting to attach a strap, already tethered to the Audi, to the cash machine but police swooped before they could complete the manoeuvre.


Lowes, Barker and Thexton were arrested. Police tasered Lloyd to stop him making off.

Yorke ran off but was arrested following a chase through village gardens.
The sixth man, Anthony Hallimond, was later arrested in Slaley waiting in a Transit van rented in Bishop Auckland on December 1.

Police seized two mobile phones from him - one which had been dismantled.
The court heard the Audi had been bought for £340 by three men from West Auckland in late December or early January.

Mr Doig said: "Rather than smashing their way in they were hoping to smash their way out."

He told the court the gang caused around £8,500 of expense to the Co-op - involving damage to the ATM machine, a CCTV camera, the door and loss of earnings.

Each defendant has a number of previous convictions, including for Thexton a similar matter relating to ATM machines.

The court heard Yorke, Thexton and Lowes had all previously served prison sentences while Hallimond, Barker and Lloyd had "less significant records".

Recorder Andrew Baker QC said he had heard "little other than a guilty plea" in way of mitigation for the men, who accepted their part in the plan.

He was told Hallimond had an "underpinning" drug issue while Lloyd suffered from a gambling problem and had "significant debts".

Lowes, 39, of Middlewood Avenue, St Helen Auckland and Thexton, 32, of Park Road, Witton Park, were each sentenced to three years behind bars.
Hallimond, 28, of Cheviot Walk, Coundon, was sentenced to 32 months.

Barker, 25, of Barley Cop Lane, Lancaster was handed a two-year jail sentence along with Lloyd, 29, of Norfolk Street, Lancaster.

And Yorke, 24, of Sandylands Promenade, Morecambe, was jailed for 28 months.