Two members of a group who caused huge damage to businesses around Kent, including forecourts, during a series of cash machine thefts have been ordered to repay more than £120,000.
Anthony Pemberthy and Stephen Davenport were tracked down and arrested by Kent Police detectives following the use of advanced DNA tracing techniques.
In November 2022, Pemberthy was given an eight year and nine month sentence for six offences and Davenport was handed seven years and five months for two offences.
Further work by police financial investigators led to the two being brought back to court on October 31, 2024, to face a Proceeds of Crime Act hearing.
At the hearing, Pemberthy was ordered to pay back £108,000 and Davenport was ordered to pay £14,300. Failure to hand over the money in the next three months will lead to the men serving extra time in prison.
The case related to six incidents, during which diggers were used in an attempt to remove cash machines and the money they contained from the walls of businesses.
The first offence took place at a Co-op in Cranbrook High Street in the early hours of Thursday, November 14, 2019. Significant damage was caused to the store and nearly £30,000 in cash was taken. A pick-up truck and the cash machine were later recovered by police in Marden.
Two months later, on Saturday January 25, 2020, a further burglary took place at the Esso petrol station on Cranbrook Road, Staplehurst. During that incident, around £80,000-worth of damage was done to the building and around £20,000 in cash was stolen.
On Monday, March 23, 2020, a group using a digger tore two cash machines from the wall of the Tesco Extra in Whitfield, near Dover. The vehicles involved drove at officers on foot who attended and rammed two police cars as they left the scene. Over £200,000 was stolen and £40,000 of damage was caused.
The same group then took part in two failed attempts to steal cash machines; the first at Morrisons in Coldharbour Road, Northfleet, on Sunday January 31, 2021; and the second at the Tesco Express in High Street, Dymchurch, on Sunday February 28, 2021. Both buildings were severely damaged but the offenders failed to make off with any money.
The final offence took place at Shell Lychgate petrol station on the A299 Thanet Way near Dargate, on Monday March 1, 2021, when around £50,000-worth of cash was stolen.
Detectives used advanced DNA techniques to show Davenport was driving the pick-up trucks used during the Cranbrook and Staplehurst offences. Pemberthy meanwhile was shown to have operated the diggers used in Staplehurst, Whitfield, Northfleet and Dymchurch.
Senior investigating officer detective superintendent Chris Greenstreet says: “These offences not only had a big impact on the businesses targeted, both in terms of the money stolen and the damage done to buildings, but also on the wider community who weren’t able to access essential services.
“I am pleased that, since these men were arrested, there have been no further successful incidents of this kind in Kent. We are determined to ensure criminals do not profit from their crimes and that is why our investigators worked to show the court that justice would be served by them repaying their criminal gains. Anyone thinking of stealing from businesses in Kent should know they will be brought to justice and forced to hand back what they have taken.”
