A man who blew up an ATM on a forecourt and made off with thousands of pounds of cash has been jailed for seven years.

Peter Hinder was seriously injured after the stolen getaway car used in the 21 August attack crashed as it fled the scene.

Nearly £10,000 worth of damage was caused to the ATM at the Esso garage on Yate Road, Iron Acton, Gloucestershire, when Hinder and an unknown accomplice used a highly flammable gas to blow it up.

Cash stolen in the incident was then left strewn across the road when the stolen Volkswagen Golf rolled on to its roof just a short distance from the garage on Yate Road.

The cassettes from the ATM were found inside the vehicle, and specialist crime scene investigators were able to forensically link them to Hinder.

The 27-year-old spent several days in Southmead Hospital after suffering concussion, suspected fractures and cuts to his head in the incident.

He then escaped the police guard by pretending to go out for a cigarette but instead fleeing in a waiting car.

Officers quickly traced the car and rearrested Hinder later that same day, taking him into custody.

While in a cell Hinder became violent and was placed in handcuffs before he then spat in an officer’s face.

Last month, at Bristol Crown Court, he pleaded guilty to causing an explosion likely to endanger life, theft, escape from lawful custody and assaulting a police officer.

On Thursday November 9, he was sentenced at the same court to seven years behind bars.

Detective constable Stuart Brooks said: “Hinder is a determined criminal who clearly has no respect for society or the law.

“He risked his life and that of his accomplice in an attempt to steal cash, then ran away from medical staff who were trying to help him and assaulted officers while in custody.

“The sentence handed down by the judge today clearly reflects how serious his offences are.”

He added: “Since the start of last year, we in Avon and Somerset have been working closely with the ATM industry to make it harder for criminals to steal money from cashpoints.

“More ATMs across the force area have been fitted with equipment designed to stop these kinds of attacks from happening, including armoured plating, while many also now have forensic water dispersal units installed which spray offenders with an indelible liquid.

“These measures either make the cash cassettes harder to access or make it easier to identify those involved in such attacks and I think they have had a noticeable effect.”

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