TWO MEN who were caught trying to steal from a cash machine at a village store have been jailed.

Aurelian Margarit and Paul Florian Miu –who were arrested in August in Baschurch – had been spotted tampering with the ATM at a Spar store.

At the time Margarit was found in possession of a ‘Lebanese Loop’ type implement, an item said to be commonly used in cashpoint thefts.

At Shrewsbury Crown Court Margarit, 37, a mechanic from Bradford, was jailed for 16 months

His accomplice, 36-year-old Miu, a tattoo artist from Hounslow, Middlesex, was jailed for a year.

Both men admitted a charge of attempted theft and Margarit also admitted being in possession of the implement. They both have a long history of convictions for theft.

Passing sentence Judge Peter Barrie said that 'no sensible explanation' had been given for how two men who live in Yorkshire and Middlesex were together in the village.

Mr Kevin Jones, prosecuting, said that on August 28 people near the Spar store in Forge Lane saw the two defendants acting suspiciously at the cashpoint.

They were tampering with the machine and Margarit had an implement in his hand.

The court heard that when attached to an ATM the device is said to create a fault and tricks the machine into believing money has not been properly dispensed and then releases cash.

Mr Brendan Reedy, for Margarit, said his client was given the device by someone in London.

"He was told he could use it to get money from cash machines. He tried it and it didn’t work," he said.

Mrs Debra White, for Miu, said her client had been in the UK for three years and had been given an 18-week suspended sentence for theft of £250 less than a month before his arrest.