Three men sentenced for stealing from game machines across Chester & Cheshire

They were sentenced to a total of 40 years.

Ian Parker, 31, of Burton Road in Chester pleaded guilty to two counts of conspiracy to steal and was sentenced to 19 months in prison. Luke Partington, 35, of Beechwood Road in Flintshire received a 12 month jail term after pleading guilty to one count of conspiracy to steal. David Gordon, 48, of Waggon Walk in Birmingham pleaded guilty to theft and received a nine month prison sentence. 

Between October 2017 and April 2018 Parker, Partington and Gordon conspired to steal from gaming machines at pubs in Chester, Ellesmere Port and Winsford as well as Birmingham, Merseyside, North Wales and Humberside.

The crime spree began on 17 October where Parker snapped the padlock off the front of a gaming machine at a pub on Heath Road in Chester and stole £392. 

On the same evening Parker then made his way to a pub on Grosvenor Street in Chester where he broke into another gaming machine and stole £215 after distracting staff. 

On the 17 January 2018 Gordon was spotted on CCTV at the Royal Oak pub in Hoole where he was identified on CCTV interfering with one of the machines. He went on to commit another offence on 22 March 2018 at a pub on Northgate Street in Chester where he was caught breaking the padlock on the gaming machine and opening the door. 

Detective Constable Matthew Stenton, of Chester Local Policing Unit, said: “Parker, Partington and Gordon were all utterly brazen in their crime sprees by targeting pubs all over the country and believing they would never be caught. 

“Today’s conviction shows we will track you down and put you before the courts.”