Police have released footage of an audacious raid on a village store and subsequent face-off with assailants on a country lane.
Jesse Gatehouse, 30, was jailed this week for his part in ram-raids on two Suffolk shops.
He had been awaiting sentence in jail for one burglary when he admitted his part in an earlier attempted raid following a visit from Suffolk’s Operation Converter unit, which allows defendants to admit other crimes and wipe clean the slate.
Gatehouse, of Defoe Crescent, Colchester, was among three men who used a stolen forklift to smash into the Co-op in Debenham, causing more than £30,000 of damage and making off with a cash machine containing £78,420, at about 3.30am on November 12.
Two more stolen vehicles were involved – an Audi S4, taken from a driveway in Chelmsford, and a Ford Transit, stolen from Bures village hall before its roof was removed to hold the cash machine.
The machine and contents were later traced by a tracker to a disused barn in Syleham.
As officers made their way to the scene of the raid, they encountered a red Audi driving towards them on Syleham Road.
The driver attempted a U-turn but crashed the car into a hedge.
Gatehouse was trapped in the back seat, while two men fled on foot and are yet to be caught.
A week earlier, just before 2.45am on November 4, a stolen Land Rover was reversed into the front of a SPAR shop in Glemsford, near Sudbury.
Gatehouse admitted six charges covering the two raids for which he was sentenced to 52 months’ custody at Ipswich Crown Court.
Detective Inspector Matt Adams said the prompt arrest and conviction of Gatehouse was made possible by the fantastic police response, with local officers involved in the search for the offenders, while the Roads and Armed Policing Team brought the Audi to a stop and were assisted by the Police Dog Unit.
He said efforts to identify and locate the other two offenders continued, but that the work of the Operation Converter team meant Gatehouse had admitted his involvement in seven offences.
“I would urge anyone who knows anything that could assist our enquiries to come forward,” said Det Insp Adams.
Anyone with any information can contact police on 101 or paul.quantrill@suffolk.pnn.police.uk and quote reference number 68441/19.
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