An ill-fated criminal gang’s last night of freedom has been revisited after they were jailed for more than 90 years.
The seven-strong team of ATM thieves were sentenced to 92 years in prison following a series of cash machine raids across the UK, which netted around half a million pounds.
Four Scottish strikes included one in Perth and two in Aberdeenshire, carried out alongside nine raids in England.
But five of the thieves were rumbled after spending the night at Panbride House, Carnoustie, where high-performance getaway cars were kept in the hopes of spiriting away after hitting the town’s Co-op in Barry Road.
Each man broke into a holiday chalet adjacent to Carnoustie’s only listed building, ahead of an early-morning getaway that only made it as far as Westway in Arbroath and a police sting.
Police entered the estate, which is highly secure, to find one member of the gang left behind as a lookout.
He was snared with a 296bhp Type R Golf and the cash machine within.
Anthony Conroy, Andrew White, Nanu Miah, Robin Vaughn, and Carl Cavanagh were taken into custody as a UK-wide police operation, Titan, worked to link them with the wave of heists.
Panbride House has now been bought by Brian Boyd, who watched the drama unfold on February 12 2016.
“They broke in here the night before and would have hidden their cars right up the drive,” he said.
“It looks like they were going to lie low for 12 hours and disappear into the rush-hour traffic heading to Dundee, just a white van with all the others,” he said.
“But the car with the cash machine was racing along at 4.30am, as someone was leaving their house to get on a bus to travel to a rugby match in Wales.
“It just so happened that an off-duty officer was on board and they phoned the control room.
“Shortly after that, there were vans and helicopters all over the area.”
Security around the B-listed property has been beefed up since the gang took up residence there.
Dubbed the “fast and Furious gang” by local press, the Liverpool-based group caused gas explosions and dragged out cashpoints using heavy vehicles at banks and shops across the UK.
The ruthless criminals then fled in stolen-to-order sports cars, reaching speeds of 150mph as they left pursuing police cars in the dust.
The crooks led officers on chases along motorway hard shoulders and country lanes, before driving to safety up ramps into the back of a lorry.
