Thieves stole £64k from people withdrawing cash

Colombian nationals Willmer Guzman and Armet Cortes admitted conspiracy to steal

Two men who were part of a foreign gang which stole £64,000 from older people withdrawing cash have been jailed for three years and eight months each.

Colombian nationals Willmer Guzman, 63, and Armet Cortes, 55, and their associates would hang around cash machines and banks across England before carefully selecting victims, targeting lone women who were "unlikely to fight back", Newcastle Crown Court heard.

They would distract and disorientate their victims and were prepared to use intimidation and force to get money from them, assistant judge advocate general Andrew Smith said.

Both men admitted conspiracy to steal, having targeted 14 people between August 2024 and April this year.

Six of the crimes took place in north-east England - Sunderland, Gosforth, Hexham, Whitley Bay, Lemington and Newcastle city centre - with the others scattered across the country, the North East Regional Organised Crime Unit (NEROCU) said.

One woman had £15,000 stolen when the gang scattered coins on the ground and asked if they were hers, court documents showed.

'Skilled and subtle'

They used the same tactic with many of the victims, with thefts carried out in Southport, Widnes, Formby, Scarborough, Ealing in London, Preston and Birkenhead.

Staff at a Home Bargains in Birkenhead managed to retrieve one woman's £4,000 after they chased down the gang of thieves, prosecution notes said.

Judge Smith said the gang loitered looking for people "discreetly taking out large amounts of cash", then used "silent, skilled and subtle signs" to gesture to each other about the victim they had identified.

They predominantly sought older single women "unlikely to fight back or challenge" them, the judge said, and on occasion followed people home and entered their houses to get their money.

'Jostled and pushed

The men would use "skilful and practised distraction techniques" to steal the money which showed a "high degree of professionalism", the judge said.

He said that did "not seem entirely consistent" with the two men's claims they were of good character, but because they had never been convicted of a crime in the UK and the Colombian authorities failed to respond to queries about the men, they had to be treated such by the court.

When distraction did not work, the men were prepared to intimidate and use force, the judge said.

One 66-year-old woman was "jostled and pushed" by two men and "felt trapped, surrounded and threatened", the court heard.

A 71-year-old woman and her elderly husband were surrounded in their car by the gang, who were "deliberately shouting and screaming" at them in a foreign language to "disorientate" the couple while their money was stolen, the judge said.

All the victims had been "profoundly affected" by the theft, Judge Smith said.

'Incredibly traumatic'

One woman had been looking forward to retirement but had to return to work due to the loss, the court heard, while another whose house had been entered by the gang was now seeking to move.

"All the victims refer to their ongoing anxiety [and] caution in going ahead with their day-to-day lives," the judge said.

Both men claimed they had come to the UK for jobs, Guzman as a painter decorator and Cortes a mechanic, but were talked into crime by others after finding they did not have the right to work.

Cortes also claimed he fled from Colombia due to a debt he had accrued there, issues with which had led to the death of his father, the court heard.

Both men, who the judge said had entered the UK legally while visa requirements for people from Colombia were relaxed, said they wanted to return to their home country.

Judge Smith said they would serve up to 40% of their sentences in prison, after which they would liable to automatic deportation.

Following the sentencing, Det Con Andy Thompson of NEROCU said such offending was "incredibly traumatic" for victims and left a "financial and psychological impact".

"Cortes and Guzman targeted vulnerable victims and used manipulative and sophisticated methods to carry out their crimes," Mr Thompson said.