Gang 'bugged Cov Building Society branch to get PIN numbers'

[dutchman]

Three men secretly bugged a building society in Coventry to try to pick up details about people’s accounts, a court was told.



They set up a high-tech spying device on the roof of a Coventry Building Society branch in an attempt to get access to PIN numbers and accounts.

They hoped to eavesdrop on staff talking about confidential information. But the trio were caught when they returned to move the listening device to a different spot.

Ringleader Craig Cartwright – an electrician – was jailed for two years.

Prosecutor Kristina Montgomery told Leamington Crown Court, Cartwright and two other men set up a bugging device on the roof of Coventry Building Society, in Holbrooks Lane, Holbrooks, in February 2008.

It was originally alleged the men were plotting to carry out a robbery.

But after Cartwright fled the country while on bail, the others admitted an alternative offence of conspiracy to burgle the premises and were given suspended 12-month prison sentences.

They entered their pleas on the basis they were trying to listen to conversations to get details of customers’ accounts and pin numbers.

Cartwright, 36, of Vinecote Road, Longford, was eventually re-arrested on his return and later found guilty of the conspiracy charge, which he had denied.

He was jailed for 22 months for that offence – with a consecutive two-month sentence for failing to surrender to his bail.

Andrew Molloy, defending, said: “Mr Cartwright knows there is very little to be said in mitigation.

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