Gang may never be convicted for Angus ATM raid

CRIME: Police suspect men convicted of UK-wide heists were behind local incident – but lack evidence

Police have admitted a gang that carried out a £150,000 Tayside bank raid may never come to court for the crime.

Officers think seven men convicted for raids across the east coast were responsible but said there was not enough evidence to try them.

They had carried out the Italian Job-style heists using high-performance cars which were driven into the back of a lorry during getaways.

Tens of thousands of pounds were stolen when an ATM in Kirriemuir was targeted in the early hours attack in December 2014.

Police lost track of the car used, a BMW 135i, after it passed through Dundee.

Detective Superintendent Alex Dowall of Police Scotland said there was not enough evidence to try the gang for the Kirriemuir theft, adding: “We strongly suspect that members of this group were responsible for carrying out this incident.”

A gang which hit a Kirriemuir cash machine for more than £100,000 may have dodged prosecution over the sixfigure haul.

Seven men now awaiting sentence for a total of 13 ATM raids the length of the UK – including strikes in Perth and Carnoustie – are the prime suspects for the early hours attack on the RBS machine in Kirrie’s Bank Street in December 2014.

Last week the men were convicted following a four-month trial at Liverpool Crown Court for the series of crimes which netted some £500,000 – including more than £100,000 from four raids in Angus and the north-east.

But the Kirrie heist, which saw £100,000-£150,000 taken in a 5am theft shortly after a failed ATM hit at Friockheim, remains an unsolved crime despite bearing all the hallmarks of the convicted crooks, who employed Italian Job-style tactics in driving stolen highperformance getaway cars up ramps and into the back of a lorry to avoid detection.

A leading detective in the Operation Titan investigation, which reached its dramatic conclusion after five of the gang were cornered by armed police in the car park of Arbroath’s McDonalds restaurant in February last year, said there was not sufficient evidence to pin the Kirrie crime on the men now facing substantial jail terms.

Detective Superintendent Alex Dowall said: “We can only take to court sufficient evidence to prove that individuals committed an offence.

“We strongly suspect that members of this group were responsible for carrying out this incident.

“What we can say is that there has not been another crime of this nature since the time they have been remanded in custody.”

But DS Dowall said the conviction and sentencing of the gang would not close the file on unsolved ATM raids such as Kirrie

“There was no pattern to the incidents and why they targeted the north-east area is one element we would like to explore further following their conviction. We have the comparison aspect with bits and pieces of evidence and some similarities exist, but not a sufficiency of evidence at this time.”

We strongly suspect members of this group were responsible for carrying out this incident. DS ALEX DOWALL

The Kirriemuir branch of the RBS that was raided in 2014.