A GANG involved in a £1 million crime spree, which included blowing open cash machines using gas, have been jailed for more than 18 years.

Danny Stevens, Paul Smith, Jason Eastwood and Luke Cole were sentenced at Guildford Crown Court on Friday.

They were charged with conspiracy to commit burglary and conspiracy to steal relating to offences across the South East.

They stole more than £1 million worth of goods, with £300,000 of the total taken from ATMs, and caused an estimated £350,000 worth of damage.

The gang used stolen vehicles and stolen registration plates to commit a total of 39 crimes.

The gang also burgled Old Basing News, in Belle Vue Road, on January 23 this year and The Coop, in Greensland Road, Rooksdown on March 10.

The earlier offences were ram raid style burglaries where ATMs were targeted. On nine occasions the defendants reversed a stolen 4x4 pickup through the front of a building and stole the ATMsThe last four offences which were committed by Stevens, Eastwood and Smith, involved the use of combustible gas used to blow open ATMs.

The investigation started following a burglary on December 15, 2014.

The four received the following sentences:

Stevens, 38, of Hayden Place, Yateley, Hampshire – seven years. He admitted to both conspiracies.

Smith, 24, of Shurlock Road, Shurlock Row in Berkshire - six years.

Eastwood, 41 of Willow Crescent, Farnborough, Hampshire – three years and four months. Cole, 24, of Stockbridge Lane, Doncaster, South Yorkshire – two years.

Smith pleaded guilty on the basis that he was present at nine of the burglaries.

Eastwood admitted to being actively involved in the last four offences.

Cole, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to burgle and admitted to his involvement in the burglary at Co-op in Shinfield on March 24.