Jail term looms for raids getaway driver

A notorious getaway driver at the centre of at least 15 smash and grab raids was today facing years behind bars after detectives identified his face and a stolen supercar on CCTV.

Ben Westwood used a stolen £85,000 Audi that was one of only two in the country to keep out of the reach of the law during the money-spinning crime spree.

The startling acceleration of the specially-modified Audi RS5 allowed him to repeatedly escape from pursing police cars while committing at least 15 raids that netted over £50,000 worth of cigarettes along with cash and jewellery.

He even managed to out-run the West Midland Police helicopter by hurtling along the M6 at 180mph, going so fast that flames appeared to be shooting from the rear of the vehicle. But the heat was soon on Westwood after detectives uncovered a tell-tale pattern of crime across the Midlands.

Officers combing CCTV footage from a string of similar raids committed in Staffordshire and the West Midlands spotted a white Audi with distinctive grill and sports wheels in the vicinity of all the crimes while displaying different, false, number plates.

The luxury saloon matched a vehicle stolen in a car key burglary in Stourport on August 3, 2011. The missing Audi had an Lamborghini engine, special panoramic glass roof and racing car brakes.

Among the offences it was linked to was a raid on a Tesco store in Heath Hayes, Cannock, in the early hours of September 22 2011. The hood of a member of the masked gang snagged on a shattered rollershutter as they loaded stolen cigarettes into black dustbins used to carry away the haul.

He looked like Westwood, who had already been identified by police as a possible suspect as he was out on licence from a six-year jail term after being convicted of involvement in a similar offences in 2007.

Less than a quarter of an hour after the Heath Hayes raid, a gang struck again at the Co-op in Cannock Road, Wolverhampton near the home of Westwood.

He described himself as a car trader and lived at Woden Road, Wednesfield, and police checks proved that it was sufficient time for the same people to be responsible for both jobs. The tracker from the Audi, i removed soon after its theft, had stopped working in the Wolverhampton area.

These facts added to the growing suspicion that Westwood was at the centre of the crime spree that had started within hours of the Audi being taken, when the Co-op store in Holmcroft Road, Stafford, was raided and £2,500 worth of cigarettes taken.

The wave of raids continued at shops in Stoke, Cannock, Rugeley, Wednesfield, Walsall, Worcester, Bentley Bridge, Walsall, Stourport and Market Drayton. Each took little more than five minutes to complete with the gang filling dustbins with packets of cigarettes.

Police needed proof to put before a court. A detective explained: "We knew that Westwood would go no comment and deny everything if arrested and so we needed to catch him with the car." The investigation also faced possible confusion when the Audi was re-sprayed black at the end of 2011 but their lucky break came when officers discovered the car was involved in a bid to use cutting gear to burn open an ATM cash machine holding £24,000 on the forecourt of a Murco garage on Warstones Road, Penn.

Officers swooped as the raiders fled empty handed. Three were held, but Westwood and another man escaped in the Audi, out accelerating police BMWs to join the M6 northbound at Junction 11. The supercar soon hit 180 mph and left the police helicopter in its wake as it headed towards Stafford before doubling back towards Wolverhampton. The Audi was dumped in nearby Pickering Road and the pair headed to a flat in nearby Lathe Court to where Westwood was traced by tracker dogs and arrested.

He has now been convicted of conspiracy to burgle and conspiracy to steal after a trial at Wolverhampton Crown Court and is in custody awaiting sentence. The four men arrested after the bungled Murco garage ATM raid have each either admitted or been convicted of conspiracy to steal in connection with that raid and are due to be sentenced alongside him later this month.

A detective said: "The offences we have been able to prove are probably just the tip of the iceberg."