Essex cash machine raids: Teen detained for role

A teenager who was part of a ram-raid gang which caused £150,000 worth of damage in a year has been detained.

Tommy Lee Mitchell, 19, of Fern Hill Lane. Harlow, Essex, was sentenced to six years and six months in a young offenders institution at Chelmsford Crown Court.

He had admitted two counts of conspiracy to commit burglary and one of conspiring to steal a motor vehicle.

The gang stole £165,000 in smash and grab raids across the south of England.

The nine men, several of whom are from the same family, stole vehicles with a combined value of about £400,000 to use as getaway cars, Chelmsford Crown Court heard.

During one attempted raid, the gang drove at 100mph (160km/h) through the Dartford Tunnel while throwing fire extinguishers at a police officer to deter pursuit, a previous hearing was told.

William Mitchell, Levi Mitchell, Walter Mitchell Senior, Walter Mitchell Junior, Shane Stanley, Ross Whitford, Jack Mitchell, and Sid Clark (clockwise from top left) were previously jailed over thefts of cash machines

The eight other men, were previously jailed for their involvement at a sentencing hearing on 18 October, were:

• Shane Stanley, 37, of Fern Hill Lane, was jailed for nine years

• Walter Mitchell Senior, 42, of Fern Hill Lane, was jailed for nine years

• Walter Mitchell Junior, 21, of Potterfields, Harlow was jailed for eight years

• Jack Mitchell, 20, of no fixed address, was jailed for seven years

• William Mitchell, 30, of Fern Hill Lane, was jailed for seven years

• Levi Mitchell, 35, of Fern Hill Lane, was jailed for seven years

• Sid Clark, 32, of Broadfield, Harlow, was jailed for four years

• Ross Whitford, 24, of Ryecroft, Harlow, was jailed for four years

The men were arrested in a series of raids in March