A MAN has been jailed after a gang targeted a cashpoint machine during a “terrifying” raid at a Gwent petrol station.

Thomas Hagans, aged 37, from the West Midlands, was sent to prison for his part in the failed early morning attack in Pontypool.

He was arrested after Gwent Police were called to the Texaco garage on Osborne Road in Pontnewynydd last month.

Cardiff Crown Court heard how Hagans, of Wilkinson Close, Sutton Coldfield, Birmingham, pleaded guilty to attempted theft and criminal damage.

South Wales Argus:

SCENE: Police officers investigate the attempted raid

The offences were committed on Thursday, August 22.

Witnesses told the Argus just hours after the raid that they heard a disturbance at the garage at around 1.30am.

A nearby resident, who wished to remain anonymous, said: “We heard it at about 1.30am this morning. We looked out the window and couldn’t see anything.

“My husband went outside to look and saw them at the garage. It was quite terrifying.

“There were three of them, all in black.

“The police arrived quite quickly after we rang them. They arrested one of the men but the others got away.”

At the time, a Gwent Police spokeswoman said: “At around 2am this morning (Thursday, August 22), we received a report that the ATM machine at the Texaco Garage on Osborne Road in Pontypool was being broken into.

“Officers attended and a 37-year-old man from the Birmingham area was arrested.”

It was said in mitigation that Hagans had pleaded guilty.

He was jailed for a total of 23 months by Judge Jeremy Jenkins.

For the attempted theft he was sent to custody for 20 months and received a 12-month concurrent sentence for criminal damage.

For a separate unrelated offence of resisting/obstructing a constable, he was given a consecutive term of three months in prison.

And for the assault by beating an emergency worker and another criminal damage charge, he was jailed concurrently for two months.