Car chase will look ‘completely disgusting on tape’ says robber

This is the moment a serial robber tells police officers arresting him that the car chase will look ‘absolutely disgusting on tape’.

Five crooks who targeted 14 premises including shops and even a hospital during the Covid lockdown in 2020 were today jailed for a total of 53 years.  

As all the gang are put behind bars, West Midlands police released footage of the moment the burglars were caught during a raid in Oldbury.   

Officers were led on a 15-minute chase before the red van was repeatedly rammed by officers before the getaway driver Nicholas Collins bizarrely moaned to officers about how the chase would look on video.

While being led away in handcuffs, he said ‘What was you chasing me for? Look what just happened. Course I’m upset, I’m going to prison now. You know, dangerous driving and whatever else.

‘It’s going to be ridiculous on tape that is. That’s going to an absolutely disgusting chase on tape that is lads. Thank you very much ‘cos you know what I’m going to look like an absolute (expletive) (expletive) to everybody who sees that. And it’s all because you were chasing me for what?’

Collins was part of a gang who carried out robberies and ram raids across the Midlands.

The crime spree began on January 6, 2020, when they drove to Stoke-on-Trent in a cloned car and stole two Audis before driving all three back to the West Midlands.

The next day they used one of the Audis to raid a Subway in West Bromwich, where they stole a safe and ripped out the CCTV system.

Hours later, they smashed a hole in the side of a garage in Wolverhampton, ransacking an office and stealing tools. The same day they moved on to a money transfer shop in Tipton, where they ripped open a roller shutter.

While trying to remove a safe they were disturbed by officers and fled the scene.

On January 19 two of the gang robbed a shop in Oldbury armed with crowbars which they used to threaten terrified staff. The workers were forced to kneel while the gang smashed their way into a safe and made off with thousands of pounds.

Three days later on January 22 they tried to open a cash machine at a shop on Washwood Heath Road, Birmingham, but again were disturbed by police. As they fled the scene they left their tools behind.

Despite the failed raid, the gang were not deterred and struck a shop in the Milking Ban area of Dudley on January 28. They used a ‘jaws of life’ machine, normally used by firefighters, to break in before blowing up a cash machine using gas.

Despite the raid, they fled empty handed again.

On January 30 CCTV captured them breaking into Cannock Hospital where they tried and failed to take money from a cash machine.

Footage shows them using their van to ram police officers as they escaped.

On February 1 the gang ram-raided a shop on Lichfield Road, in Walsall Wood, which saw the entire entrance destroyed.

They tried to drag a cash machine through the shop using heavy straps but were forced to abandon the raid when it became snagged on the shutters.

On March 6 they used the same technique during a raid on a shop on Warstones Lane, Wolverhampton. They again failed to flee with the ATM when the straps snapped as it dragged through the wrecked shop.

On April 25, police tried to stop a van carrying gang member Mark Lake, but he performed a U-turn and drove the wrong way up the junction 7 slip road on the M6.

Dash-cam showed him driving at speed for about half-a-mile on the hard shoulder on the wrong side of the motorway.

He abandoned the van and escaped on foot but when officers searched the vehicle they found scaffolding with straps.

They had been welded onto the vehicle chassis to make it easier for the gang to rip out cash machines.

On June 4 the gang struck again when they stormed into a store on Turners Lane, Brierley Hill.

They ripped the panic alarms from staff and started removing the tills before fleeing.

On June 7, the group carried out their final robbery at a store on Howley Grange Road, Halesowen.

Masked and armed with hammers and crowbars, they ran into the shop, terrifying an elderly customer and threatening the staff, forcing them into the rear office.

They smashed and took the tills and demanded access to the safe, but failed to get in.

Four days later officers caught the gang driving in a red van which had cloned number plates.

Collins, who was driving, was tasered before being arrested. Mark Lake was trapped in the van and was arrested along with Darren Fitzpatrick who was found in a rear partition in the vehicle.

A fourth member of the gang. Dean Isitt, was arrested as he tried to flee his home in Clyde Street Isitt was then arrested attempting to flee from his home address on Clyde Street, Old Hill, Cradley Heath.

The gang were convicted of a string of offences including conspiracy to commit robbery, conspiracy to commit burglary and driving offences.

On Monday they were sentenced at Birmingham Crown Court.

Lake, 43, of West Bromwich, was jailed for 18 years for conspiracy to commit robbery and conspiracy to burgle.

Isitt, 45, of Cradley Heath, was jailed for 16 years for the same offences.

Fitzpatrick, 38, of Tividale, was jailed for 13 years for the same offences.

Collins, 41, of West Bromwich, was jailed for six years and 20 months for conspiracy to burgle and driving offences.

A fifth man, John Williamson, 42, of Smethwick, was given a 21-month jail sentence, suspended for two years for conspiracy to burgle.

Detective Constable John Marsh, of West Midlands Police Major Crime Unit, said: ‘This was a prolonged series of really serious offending, which saw innocent members of the public terrorised in their workplaces as this gang used force to steal from shops and businesses around the region.

‘The CCTV released shows just how ruthless and reckless they were.

‘We pulled together mobile phone evidence, along with details of vehicles movements and forensics from items left at the scene of the gang’s crimes to build a really compelling case.’