Original subtitles

Such an emergency?

Attack on Morrisons.

They're trying to rob the shop.

13 males.

All dressed in black.

With balaclavas on.

Stay in your vehicle.

Yeah.

Hold on, I'm in the back.

Hold on, I'm in the back.

Oh, they've done the shot.

Well done, Michelle.

There is two cash machines, like hole in the wall.

Both of them are open and both are empty.

Police officers are responding to a cash point raid in the middle of the night

at a supermarket in West Cumbria.

All I know is there were three males, valets, black clothes.

All three of them?

Yeah.

Do you have a description of the vehicle?

Grey saloon.

An alert goes out for the robbers getaway car.

But they fled the scene with the cash boxes.

Good morning, everyone.

The purpose of today's briefing is to make you aware about another ATM attack

that's taken place overnight. The doors to the ATM have been forced open.

We think there's been a loss somewhere in the region of £130 ,000, so this is a

significant loss.

This is out of the ordinary for us.

This is the second ATM raid in the past 24 hours that Cumbria Police are now

investigating.

These cells have been recovered from the CCTV near to the ATM machine.

You can see this should appear to be some kind of equipment that can be used

gain access to this ATM machine.

It's a really audacious thing to do.

They've bypassed a number of security measures in a very short period of time

order to secure a significant amount of cash.

We don't know the identity of those people involved. We don't know where

come from, where they've gone to afterwards.

So there's a lot of questions that we need to understand.

I just want to make it clear this isn't a victimless crime that we're

investigating here.

They are sophisticated criminals.

Let's just bear in mind everyone's safety when we're going out of here

now.

Let's get cracked on then. Thank you.

These ATM robberies, they are very slick at what they do.

They're willing to take quite significant risks in order to reap some

rewards.

I believe that these people are likely to do whatever it takes in order to

being caught.

And there's money lying around.

Gosh. I'll get officers there now.

The empty cash boxes are recovered and sent to forensic investigator Jason

Goodwin for urgent examination.

Right, let me have a look.

These are the cash boxes that have been stolen from Morrisons.

What we're looking for is any fingerprints.

The offenders might get a bit sloppy once they're taking the items away from

scene. If they've got gloves on, they could potentially take them off when

they're trying to get into these cash boxes.

These cash cassettes have come from the farmer's field. They probably thought

they may never get found for a number of days or weeks, but fortunately for us,

they've been found within hours of the offence.

While the boxes are sent for fingerprint analysis, Jason takes a closer look at

the damage on the ATM to work out how the gang forced them open.

There's some distinctive tool marks on the ATM machine.

It looks like an angle grinder has been used to cut through the ATM doors.

There's also a series of unusual horizontal markings from some other

that's being used.

Some sort of high -powered gripping tool.

Getting into the back of ATM machines is not an easy task.

You need specialist equipment.

It takes a great deal of organisation and planning, so it's unlikely to be

criminals that have done that.

It's quite unusual and it could be they're coming from further afield into

area.

170 miles away, reports of the Cumbrian raids are shared with a specialist task

force.

Detective Inspector Alan Teague is chasing a prolific criminal gang

robbing ATMs nationwide.

This is a briefing to update progress on Operation TCAP, targeting an organised

crime group based in the West Midlands who have committed a series of attacks

cash machines at rural locations across the country.

We've been sent CCTV from the offences that have been committed up in Cumbria.

Hallmarks of this offence are very, very similar to the organised crime group

that we're investigating.

In recent months, the gang has struck repeatedly.

escaping with nearly a quarter of a million pounds in cash.

The challenge with investigating an OCG is always that they're trying to stay

one step ahead of us.

ATMs are inherently difficult to get into, but they have a very specific MO

the machinery that they use to break them open.

They've found the quickest way.

It's through the use of specialist cutting machinery.

That's the reason why we've named the group JOL.

Jaws of Life.

The Jaws of Life, which the fire brigade need for emergency situations.

They're used to try to cut open cars that have been involved in accidents to

save people.

Stolen hundreds of thousands of pounds.

They're quite willing to use violence during the commissioning of the offence.

They travel at really, really dangerous high speeds.

They've used rocks to ward police off.

There's no doubt about it, this gang aren't going to stop unless we catch

The task force begins by trying to work out if the same Jaws of Life gang are

now targeting Cumbria.

Similar MO, four offenders in an Audi RS3.

Offenders exit the vehicle.

Used a disc cutter and jaws of life to force open the side door that leads to

the ATM.

And again, the jaws of life on the ATM in order to steal the cash boxes from

within.

Whilst one offender stands outside on guard with a bat in their hand.

They're far from what you'd describe as an amateur.

We're going to be working with colleagues from Cumbria Police from this

onwards. The opportunities that present themselves from these most recent

offences up in Cumbria mean that we need to act at pace now.

The gang are proving to be a difficult proposition for us at this time because

they've left no trace behind so far.

It's an absolute priority for us and our colleagues in Cumbria now to try to

identify where the offenders are.

We don't know where they're going to strike next.

While the task force gathered intel in the West Midlands, Cumbria police take

the lead on the forensic investigation from the crime scene.

A team heads out to search for any sign of the

getaway car near to where the boxes were dumped.

We'll get on that straight away. Nice one.

Cumbria has always been thought of as a sleepy rural community where crime

doesn't really occur. To me, that's not the case.

We have to think outside the box. We have to consider what might they have

thought about to disrupt this group, try and catch them.

The cash boxes are the only potential forensic lead in the case.

Investigator Helen Pendry searches for fingerprints using UV lighting.

I'm just going to slowly examine the cash cassette.

The blue crime light fluoresces any areas of friction -rich detail present

on the exhibit.

This is the area where the money would be placed and obviously removed.

A couple of areas of where potentially somebody touched it, but

unfortunately not very clear. It's more of a smudge rather than

definite fingerprints, sadly.

But this is what happens. People are very forensically aware.

I've not found anything.

The conclusions to be drawn from that are they've never put the gloves off.

They've never exposed the fingerprint to those items.

The other possibility is they've wiped it down. So at this stage, we've got no

idea who these offenders are. They always seem to be one step ahead.

In the early hours, just a day after the last raid...

Cumbria Police are called to another ATM burglary in progress.

Police!

Show yourself!

Oh my God.

They've angle -grounded the back of the safe.

But... I don't think they've got it up.

I don't know why they've left.

This time, the thieves have fled empty -handed.

What kind of car was it?

Grey.

Right, okay.

Small, big hatchback.

Right, okay.

It is the same vehicle as yesterday.

I've just spoken to a member of the public who's seen a small grey

The grey car matches the description from all three offences.

We are heading in the general direction.

But once again, the gang have made a clean getaway.

So this is the third offence we've had now in three days up in Cumbria.

Yeah.

Fearing the jaws of life, gang have struck again.

Task Force lead Alan Peague and DC Mark Plant have requested CCTV from the

latest attack.

They're breaking through the contentions of the store.

and we can see the jaws of life as they go inside

and we'll grind up

one outside with the bat

just pause it there yep no chance that we can see a registration

plate is there it's just a blur the gray audi's obviously been present now at

three offenses

It's probably a stolen vehicle.

Trying to locate that grey Audi RS3 is absolutely a priority for us at the

moment in time.

We need to identify where that car is and to recover that vehicle, hopefully

with the offenders present.

A gang of this type will eventually slip up.

We can see him passing a police patrol car.

Totally unaware of what's going on inside the store.

The man with the bat there, he's seen them.

He goes back into the store to alert other members of the group.

They leave empty -handed.

They get back into the grave, aren't they?

Three.

From the CCTV we can see that the crew appear to be more brave than now.

getting very brave.

Seems like Cumbie's now under attack.

20 miles away from last night's burglary, Cumbria patrol officers pull

tow truck after spotting something suspicious.

The grey Audi RS3 was reported stolen a week ago and is a match for the getaway

car seen on CCTV.

Are we doing a cursory search of the cab of this vehicle?

When we've lifted the front passenger seats up, there's wedges of money

underneath it.

Due to the circumstances, you're under arrest for suspicion of burglary. You

don't have to say anything to me. I'm in defence.

You don't have to make any questions.

Anything you do say, may be given to you later.

I understand that.

I understand that.

Good spot

there, yeah? Right place, right time.

With a major breakthrough in the case,

It's time to get in your round.

The driver, Daniel Hickenbottom, is taken to be questioned.

You were arrested earlier today on suspicion of burglary.

That's from last night, midnight. Where were you?

Malcom.

Aldi Irish Street, which is on the trailer, you were told it.

Were you aware that that vehicle was due to be stolen?

Malcom.

The discovery of the Audi.

It could be vital evidence.

Now they've been identified at several jobs over consecutive days now.

So the longer they're in contact with the vehicle, that's the time when they

slip up.

We're going to be looking for DNA opportunities, fingerprint

anything that we can use to identify these individuals.

Inside that van, which you've been driving in, £4 ,000 in cash was found

underneath the passenger seat.

What can you tell me about that money?

Nothing.

Did you get it when you met whoever these people are to pick up this camera?

No. We don't know the role that Daniel Hickam -Wattons played. We don't know

whether he's been one of the males at the cash machine.

We don't know whether he's playing a more ancillary role, like the movement

vehicles or assets.

I want to get to the bottom of this because I want to know who's done it.

want to send out a message that if you come to Cumbria and you commit crime,

then expect us to come after you.

In the West Midlands, Alan meets with the Cumbria team.

to talk through the evidence they have so far on Daniel's involvement in the

raids.

Stephen,

Jason, good to see you this morning. I understand that you've recovered an

Tremendous result from our perspective.

The downside for them is that they've allowed the tarpaulin to blow over on

vehicle and fortunately your traffic officers who have been very switched on

have been able to see that vehicle, stop it and make the arrest.

this would appear to be the first mistake that they've made and the

that we've been waiting for for some months now so we have got daniel and

custody um just finished interviewing and now that low load and the rd has

from a base quite near to uh where they arrested them like so uh we think that

they've been stationed we're fairly local so they may still be in the area

OK, James, just in relation to the Audi, could you just give us a bit of an

overview as to what you found inside that vehicle?

Absolutely

nothing

with regards to physical fingerprint evidence on this vehicle.

So far, this group have been one step ahead of us in terms of their ability to

avoid detection.

It's frustrating that we haven't generated significant amounts of

The risk to the public, whilst this gang is still at large, is significant.

So the pressure is on.

We are going to release you out on police bail. How are you feeling about

home?

Happy. With no evidence linking Daniel to the burglaries, he is released on

bail. Thank you.

And his phone is seized for further investigation.

Going to locations, see if there's anywhere being jail tagged.

To find out more about what Daniel was doing in Cumbria, his phone data is

downloaded. and sent for forensic examination by Detective Constable Joe

Tidmarsh.

So it looks like, looking at the phone, we've got about 397 chats, about

1 ,700 call logs, and about 209 locations where the phone's

hit.

So it looks like this mobile phone was actually...

in Cumbria on the 10th of August.

That's interesting, that.

He's kind of made a video to kind of explain where he is and where to go and

kind of the entry and exit points.

The video was filmed by Daniel a few days before the first raid in Cumbria.

There's another one there.

That's where I put the call.

Grey Aldi.

They show the number plate as well.

Same number plate.

The clip clearly shows the Audi getaway car linked to all three raids parked

outside the property.

I look around the time of the offence.

What's interesting is Daniel receives what looks like a

WhatsApp saying, thanks for booking with me.

Cottages .com.

That's a booking confirmation for the bungalow.

That's just outside of Carlisle.

Looks very similar to the cottage that he's filming.

This could be a real turning point in the investigation.

The Audi.

It's the same vehicle.

And therefore we can now link the bungalow to each of the three different

sites.

This may be where the suspects have been basing themselves.

So there is the potential for forensic evidence that has been left at that

address that may really help us to identify who is responsible for this.

At the bungalow, the occupants have already checked out.

Crime scene investigators begin a search for any hidden traces, such as hair or

fingerprints, that may have been left by the offenders.

The owner of the Holiday Left informed us that when they've actually gone in to

clean up the address, they've noticed that the bedding on all the beds was

freshly laundered.

So again, like the Audi, they've gone for town covering the tracks

Although the interior appears spotless, outside the search team make a

significant discovery.

A black bin bag full of rubbish has been recovered.

Each item must be tagged and assessed for potential forensic analysis.

Within the black bin bag that was recovered from the wheelie bins at the

the property, you've got quite a selection of loose cans, bottles, lots

vessels.

Wow, that's loads there, isn't it? Yeah.

We've got these antibacterial surface cleaners.

We've got Red Bull cans.

We've got a lot of clothing tags.

Within the bin bag, we're looking at over 100 exhibits.

But we don't know what is going to be useful for an investigation until we go

through that meticulously.

Then we'll concentrate on high -priority submissions to our fingerprint

enhancement lab.

Pot noodle, lots of takeaway.

McDonald's, this does contain a receipt in this.

Is that some handwriting on it as well? Yeah, it appears to be a partial VRM. So

it's probably gone through the drive -through and staff have wrote a part

plate on it. Yeah.

What's the date, can you see?

It is the 11th of the 8th and it's at 10 .27 in the morning. Brilliant.

Officers are sent to retrieve CCTV from McDonald's, matching the time on the

receipt.

This footage has been sent from our Cumbria colleagues and it's from a

McDonald's approximately five miles from the cottage where we believe our

suspects were actually staying.

In the West Midlands, Mark begins searching the downloaded footage for

using the drive -through.

We know from the receipt that it was a drive -through that was used because of

the course of registration.

trying to see if I can pick out the vehicle and hopefully identify the

Seems quite busy at McDonald's.

There's numerous vehicles on there.

There's a family here in a silver vehicle.

It's not going to be related to any of our suspects or the investigation.

Oh, here we go.

This clip I've got now from the serving hatch.

He's a white male wearing sunglasses.

He's waiting for his order.

He's the only occupant of the vehicle.

That went onto the registration number.

But we need to get a better angle from CCTV.

This view is the same car.

But the rear of the vehicle.

Got it?

It's a white Vauxhall Mokka and the registration is YBT.

Which matches the receipt.

Now I've got the full registration, we can do some checks on that.

This vehicle is linked to this person, Craig Howell.

Mark runs the name on the police national computer to see if this man is

to police.

previous convictions for theft, burglary, burglary of a non -dwelling,

wounding with intense grievous bodily harm for which he received a seven -year

imprisonment.

The first time he was arrested, he was just a teenager.

There's numerous arrests spanning nearly 30 years.

Definitely a career criminal.

The images, they're not dissimilar.

A white male of a similar age on CCTV with McDonald's.

So, this is Craig Howell.

Craig Howell is based in the West Midlands and has previous convictions

serious assaults.

But if I was to make one arrest, this would quickly tip off all of the others

that were on their case.

So I want to identify all of the members of the group before we make any

arrests.

At this stage, we don't know who the ringleader is.

But for me, the net is starting to close on this group now.

Investigators start tracking motorway cameras to piece together Howell's

movements in Cumbria in the hope he may lead them to the rest of the gang.

Oh no, I've got something.

Okay, ANPR data for Craig Howell's white Vauxhall Mokka.

It goes moving from the Wolverhampton area and it moves north to the Cumbria

area, arriving around about half past two to the area where the offences were

committed the day before.

Following the offences, that same vehicle makes the journey south back

the grain staping.

Howell's car makes a stop at Penrith train station before returning to the

Midlands.

The task force urgently requests the station CCTV to analyse.

Boss, do you want to come and have a look at this?

CCTV has just been sent through Penrith train station.

So this is an external camera at the railway station in Penrith and you can

the white Vauxhall mocha.

that we know.

It's linked to Craig Howell.

Interested now that two people have got out walking into the station.

Can't see the facial from the outside.

We might have to ID him from that.

Unfortunately, that lady blocks it, I think.

Playback speed, slow it down.

Oh, here we go.

This is better.

You know those, don't you?

It's Noel Riley.

Brilliant.

Noel Riley is a significant criminal from the West Midlands Forth area.

I've known Noel Riley as long as I've been in the job.

First arrest was in 1997.

Looks nothing like him, does it?

Wow.

Riley has a long -standing history.

of convictions for similar types of offending, theft of cash from ATM

and through quite violent means.

You can see he's certainly been around investigations that I've been involved

for the past 26 years, released in 2023, and then, lo and behold, he's back to

his old ways, offending, targeting ATMs again.

Next, they scan for images that can give a clearer view to identify the second

man.

That one?

That one? That one, I think, yeah.

This is an internal camera now. Look at the ticket office.

Very clear.

Oh, there we go.

That is Simon Padgett, 100%. You've dealt with him before, haven't you?

I have.

A few years ago now, when he was arrested for a serious offence, that is

Brilliant stuff.

With three potential gang members now identified, West Midlands Police

simultaneous raids.

Come on, George, get off it for me.

Hey, Naya!

Wait up, I said!

Naya! Get me in!

Get me in!

Get over here! No, get down!

Hey, get down! Get your hands down!

You're under arrest for your experience with a burglar.

I appreciate what you're saying, but you're not going to see the officers

explain why we're here.

We'll just tell you the reason why. We don't just come and we don't just...

don't need a reason, mate.

We'll just get some clothes on.

We'll walk over there.

Come on, sir.

These officers here are going to take you down, all right, sir? Take 12,

all right, mate, OK?

Get on the horse.

Go in, you.

Good work.

Told your job.

All three suspects, Noel Riley, Simon Padgett and

Craig Howell, are brought into custody to be questioned, along with Daniel

Hickenbottom, who is re -arrested at home.

Conspiracy to burgle.

Conspiracy to commit robbery.

and conspiracy to handle stolen property.

These offences have resulted in the theft of hundreds of thousands of

Oh, please, can you just help to fix my fucking door? Because I couldn't give a

shit about my offences. Just fix the fucking door. Come down, break the door.

Scare the fucking kids, but please fix the door. I'm sick of spending £1 ,200

fucking doors. It's a fucking joke.

Detectives now have 24 hours to hold the suspects and find enough evidence to

charge them.

A fingertip search of their homes gets underway, looking for phones or anything

else that may link them to the cash raids.

So, he's got a mobile phone.

He's got an iPhone 15 Pro, an iPhone XR, an iPhone SE.

He's got a phone in the lounge as well.

Marcus, please, gentlemen.

I've got firearms, drugs, weapons, and prolific abandonment.

Marcus, I've got Marcus, gentlemen.

He's the nicest man you'll ever meet. Yeah.

I don't know where they're going from.

These are old -school offenders who are involved in serious or organised crime.

The evidence recovered so far is really significant, but on its own is not

enough in order to secure convictions.

It's really important to prove that these people have been in the bungalow

Cumbria, from which I believe they operated their criminal enterprise over

course of those three days.

That's Craig. I just need two fingerprints and a photograph.

My hope is that they will have left sufficient evidence behind to link the

members of the group to that location.

Surely you don't still catch people by fingerprints now?

He'll be amazed.

Well, I'll make lots of money and fucking pounds, mate. Fuck!

In Cumbria, over 100 items of evidence from the bin outside the bungalow have

arrived for investigator Helen Pendry to examine.

So we've got a food container.

I'll just have a look visually to see if I can see anything.

This looks pretty clean to be fair.

I don't see any apparent fingerprints.

We've got a load of items.

Everything's been rammed into this bag.

You've got food material in there, you've got liquids, so that presents

contamination issues.

It can interfere with our fingerprint results on these items.

She applies a chemical dye to try and improve the chances of finding a print.

Yeah, there's areas of ridges, but unfortunately they're not

very clear and there's no pattern as such.

Although you can see where somebody's touched it, there is absolutely nothing

value for the Bureau, which is disappointing.

And we'll just do the same process again.

One item down, Helen still has dozens more to examine in the hope of finding a

forensic link.

Have they let their guard down?

However sophisticated and organised this group are, this is the opportunity that

we've been waiting for.

Could

you

please state your full name and date of birth for me?

Craig Hall.

Thank you, Craig.

Between the 10th and 13th of August, we had some offences in Cumbria.

So there was three ATM attacks in Cumbria.

The offenders arrived in a grey Audi RS3.

CCTV images here of that location and that offence.

You see the Audi burst up and the males get out. Are you any of those males in

that CCTV?

No, I'm not.

They attacked the ATM machine with an angle grinder, jaws of life.

They're also carrying an axe and they have crowbars.

Did you show that money, Craig?

No comment.

Did you ask for his lookout?

No comment.

Did you consult with anybody to commit that offence?

No comment.

Can you please state your full name and date of birth? Noel Anthony.

Do you know anything about that offence at all?

You're not answering the questions you're understanding, so you've got your

right to silence.

Do you know a man by the name of Craig Howell?

Where did you meet him?

Did you see him often?

His house or anywhere else?

Can you please state your full name?

These events now, the next few events, I'm going to talk about around one area

in Cumbria.

Have you ever died there?

No comment. Do you know anything about the bomb blow? No comment.

£128 ,430 were stolen from two ATMs. Do you know anything about that?

No comment.

Do you know that now to be Noel Riley?

No comment.

With none of the group admitting to knowing each other... That one's going

a primary device, so definitely take a look at those.

..digital forensic officers in the West Midlands focus on accessing their phone

data.

So we might be able to get some potential contacts or communications off

So just looking for messages.

Yeah. This one's powered on as well.

We have a couple of options available where we can try and sort of brute force

the passcode.

The success massively varies. It depends on the sort of device.

Specialist software is used to unlock them.

And the downloads are sent to Mark.

to comb for any links to the raids in Cumbria.

There's nothing on here that will help us with the investigation.

Organised crime groups are members of a criminal fraternity.

One of the first challenges is actually find out how they work together, how

they travel around, because we can make inroads then of where that person's

been, who they associate with.

Some family photographs of Noel with his children, as you would expect on a

phone.

Simon Padgett's phone. There's lots of photographs of Simon with his family.

Oh, yeah, this is a stag doob.

Like I said, Noel Reilly.

Simon Padgett, Craig Hell.

Is everyone out of their time?

We're on the right track.

Simon and Craig Hell there.

It shows they are associates.

Although he can show the suspects know each other, there's no hard evidence

they are the Jaws of Life gang.

But digging deeper, Mark discovers a recent voice note sent from Noel Riley,

apparently to fellow gang members.

Well, that message, it seems quite incriminating to me.

He's not actually admitting to any offences, but he's alluding to the fact

they need to lay low for a while.

He's actually boasting that the police have got nothing on them.

No evidence.

And I think they believe they're untouchable.

Searches of property linked to the gang have found...

High -performance cars.

Industrial cutting equipment.

And a stash of counterfeit cigarettes with a street value of over £1 million.

And in Craig Howell's shed, officers make another crucial discovery.

We recovered from the shed in the rear garden. We found jewels of life.

Did you put it there?

No. Are you hiding it from somebody?

With the net closing in, officers continue piecing together each gang

part in the orchestrated ring.

Would you go inside and attack the ATM?

Or have you got no knowledge about what I'm talking about?

It's very slick, not people running around like headless chickens. Everyone

seems to know what they're meant to do.

Is that you?

Are you one of the key people?

What was your share of the stolen money?

No, do you want to say anything at all?

Did you drive that white Vauxhall Mokka to Cumbria?

No comment.

Why was it that you dropped them at the train station but then travelled the

same journey as them back down to the West Midlands?

No comment.

You'd like to separate yourselves from each other?

No comment.

The evidence that's been recovered so far on its own just isn't enough.

We need more evidence to prove that they've committed offences in Cumbria

because... Failure to secure charges will mean bailing these individuals,

would allow them to continue with their offending.

With limited time remaining to hold the gang in custody, hope for a forensic

breakthrough now rests on the single bag of rubbish left outside their hideout.

This is exciting.

You can see where at some point it's been touched.

After analysing over 100 items of evidence from the rubbish bag, Helen has

fingerprints on a clothing tag.

This has got the ridge detail, which is quite nice, especially on a darker

background.

Next is an energy drink.

He's looking quite positive. He's good.

Something like this, it's worthwhile because we've had quite a number of

exhibits from this case and a lot of them have been negative.

And lastly, she examines a can of cherry cola.

We find areas of friction -rich detail. There's a small section here.

There's a number of digits, so it's a sequence perhaps.

And that's how we get the result we need.

If we can prove forensically that they've stayed up here in this location,

is within proximity of these ATM attacks at the same time, with the Audi that's

been recovered, that then now becomes really powerful.

I'm analysing a red sticker that's been recovered from a Red Bull can.

The ridge details are fast -tracked to examiner David Holmes to try and match

any of the suspect's prints held on file.

Three suspects have been given to me as potentials, and I'm now looking at the

fingerprint form to try and find the corresponding finger for him.

One, two, three ridges, and there's a ridge ending there.

Bifurcation there, which appears on both the mark and the fingerprint form.

So I'm now satisfied that that mark on the Red Bull can is that of the left

thumb of Craig Howell.

David also analyses the fingerprint found on the clothing tag.

There appears to be what could be a fine scar across the fingerprint,

the line.

coming down here.

So it appears like a white line.

In a similar area here, you can see that there's a line coming through there,

which will be that same scar.

At this point, I'm more than confident that that is an identification to the

right forefinger of Simon Padgett.

I'm now looking at some ridge detail on a cherry cola can.

Small area of ridge detail, just the one on this can, and if I work through the

intervening ridges out to the left, one, two, three, four, five, there is a

ridge ending coming up and stopping there, so I'll start looking at the

fingerprint form of Noel Riley, the third suspect.

I'm more than satisfied that that is an identification.

and that is a match from the Cherrycaller can to the right thumbprint

Riley.

Three of the gang members can now be forensically placed in Cumbria, which

them to the getaway car transported by Daniel Hickenbottom and seen at all

offences.

We're trying to understand the hierarchy of the group.

Noel Riley, I think there's every chance that it was he who took possession of

the Jaws of Life and used those to cut into the cash machines.

Daniel Hickenbottom has acted as the driver to transport the vehicle to and

the Cumbria area.

Their cell site matches that movement as well, but interestingly, their mobile

phones all turn off at the exact times that the offences are being committed,

which is all good supporting evidence for us.

Yeah,

thanks, Steve. Thanks, Jason.

Absolutely bang to rights.

It is somehow ironic that eventually it was a bag of rubbish which identified

the base from which they operated their criminal enterprise over the course of

those three days.

As investigators, we only need to be lucky once.

The CPS has now reached a charging decision on the Cumbria raids.

Along with six other burglaries, the Jaws of Life gang are suspected of

committing together.

Hello, Craig.

So, the matter's been sent to the Crown Prosecution Service and they've come

back with four charges for you, mate. All right. So you're going to be charged

with those following offences now.

OCGs are really frantically aware.

They know how to get rid of traces of evidence.

But no matter what they try and do to evade capture, there will always be

something there for us.

He's going to be charged with the following offences. First offence,

to receive stolen goods. Second charge, inspired together with other persons to

dishonestly receive stolen goods, namely vehicles, jaws of life.

Crime does not pay. This group clearly thought that they were above the law and

they would not get caught.

You can sign right there for me, please.

They must have been cheating, putting up the rubbish.

Whilst there can be no doubt that the group made a significant amount of cash,

they will spend a considerable amount of time in prison there.

Time that they won't be able to get back, which they will spend away from

families, and posing the question, ultimately, was it worth it?

Every contact leaves a trace that forensic experts can follow.

Explore it for yourself with the Open University's new interactive case

simulator.

Scan the QR code on screen or visit connect .open .ac .uk forward slash

Details of organisations offering help and support if you've been a victim of

crime are available on the BBC Actionline website.