The final member of a gang who blew up 27 cash machines across London and Surrey - stealing a staggering £356,960 - has been locked up for nine years.

Ben Kilminster, 26, of Augustus Street in Kings Cross, has now joined the other members of the four-strong gang in jail, after their 10-month crime spree causing £320,055 of damage.

The gang targeted a string of banks and post offices in west London , Surrey and Thames Valley, using a 'highly dangerous' method of exploding cash machines before breaking in and removing the cash from the inside.

A whopping 19 attempts by the bungling thieves failed, either because they couldn't access the cash or in three cases, they were confronted by members of the public - fleeing the scene and leaving their equipment behind.

Ben Kilminster is behind bars after blowing up cash machines

They would pump a combustible oxyacetylene gas into the cash machine, and then ignited it from around 15 metres away with an electrical charge.

The remaining eight offences saw a total cash loss of around £356,330, with damage caused to the venues as a result of the explosions totalling £320,055.

But sentencing Kilminster on Wednesday (April 26) means all four members of the gang have now been jailed for a total of 42 years.

A blown apart cash machine in Hillingdon

Detective Inspector Scott Hartley, of the Met’s Flying Squad, said: “Kilminster is the fourth member of this gang to be jailed, all of whom have now received considerable prison sentences for their reckless actions.

"It was sheer luck that nobody was killed. They handled an extremely dangerous substance carelessly and with complete disregard for the safety of others.

"The level of threat they posed to community safety has been fully reflected in these sentences.

"In addition to the danger the activities of this gang posed to the community, there was extensive damage to a number of small businesses who housed the ATMs as well as significant inconvenience caused to communities who in many cases rely on the use of the ATM itself or the facilities and services provided by the host businesses."

All of the offences, including three premises struck in under an hour on the same night, took place between July 2014 and April 2015.

Each time, the gang used vehicles displaying stolen or cloned number plates.

Kilminster was finally arrested and charged on December 17 2015 and was found guilty of conspiracy to cause explosions likely to endanger life or cause serious injury to property and conspiracy to commit burglary, after a trial.

Of the 27 offences, eight took place in Hounslow , four in Hillingdon and eight in Ealing . There were also three offences in Surrey and three in Thames Valley.

Trevor Collins, Anthony Rodwell and Jamie Duggan are behind bars

The incidents involved a method of entry that was highly dangerous, not only for those committing the offence, but particularly for members of the public either living in properties attached to the venues or passing by, unaware that an explosion was about to take place.

His co-defendants, Jamie Duggan, 26, of Philip Road, Staines-Upon-Thames, Anthony Rodwell, 27, of Lauren Gardens, Ashford, and Trevor Collins, 26, of Christophers Drive, Hayes, have all been locked up.

Duggan and Rodwell both received a 12-year sentence for conspiracy to commit burglary with intent to steal and conspiracy to cause explosions likely to endanger life or cause serious injury to property, and Collins was jailed for nine years for the same offences.

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