Detectives link stolen vehicle with cash machine ram raid

Police were alerted after an alarm went off at Cottingley Post Office on Cottingley Vale in Leeds at about 1.30am on Friday.

Officers believe a silver Mitsubishi 4x4 Shogun, stolen from Cleckheaton shortly before the incident, was used by the thieves and reversed through the front shutters of the building dislodging an internal cash machine containing more than £5,000.

Once the cash machine had been loaded into the vehicle, it travelled along Cottingley Drive onto the A610 Beeston Ring Road. It was also seen travelling at high speed on Gelderd Road.

Police later found the vehicle abandoned on Parkway in the Gildersome area of Leeds.

Officers believe three or four men then left the area in a second vehicle.

The remnants of the cash machine were found on Rooms Lane in Morley on Saturday morning.

West Yorkshire Police yesterday revealed that the Shogun had been stolen from Stonefield Street in Cleckheaton at about 12.30am on Friday.

Anyone with information is asked to contact Detective Constable Damian Hunt at Holbeck CID by calling 101 or to call Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.