A member of a gang involved in a series of cash point raids - including at a Co-op store in Ludlow - has had almost £200,000 confiscated by a court.

However, Noel Reilly, 39, was allowed to keep a personal number plate taken from a car seized by police.

At Shrewsbury Crown Court last week a confiscation order was made against Reilly under proceeds of crime regulations.

Reilly, from Barnes Hill, Weoley Castle, Birmingham, was ordered to repay £199,162 - of which around £127,000 will be paid to Tesco, one of the companies the targeted by the gang.

Judge Anthony Lowe was told the money was tied up in assets that had been confiscated by the prosecution.

Ms Julia Wallace, for Reilly, said her client was grateful to the judge for agreeing his personal number plate would be returned to him. "It is not worth much but is of great sentimental value," she said.

A second gang member, Martin Steadman, 34, of Luce Road, Low Hill, Wolverhampton, was said to have no assets and was ordered to repay just £10.

In April last year Steadman and Reilly were both jailed for seven-and-a-half years for their parts in the raids having pleaded guilty to conspiracy to burgle and converting criminal property.

They were two of five raiders who committed a string of attacks on ATMs at stores and service stations in 2017 and 2018 netting more than £1,200,000.

At the time the court hears the first cash machine raid took place at Co-op, in Ludlow, on August 20, 2017, when more than £115,000 was stolen.

On August 28, 2017, the gang, travelling in a stolen Audi, struck at Tesco Express in Whitchurch, and escaped with more than £50,000.

There were other raids including the Co-op, in Ludlow, when more than £115,000 was stolen, and a break-in at Crossgates Service Station, in Llandrindod Wells, Powys.

Members of the gang were captured after West Mercia police officers put one of the men under surveillance and the unit was able to link his movements with potential burglaries and his links with the other defendants.

In all there were 23 burglaries across 14 counties and in West Mercia the gang attacked sites in Ludlow, Tenbury Wells, Droitwich, Bromsgrove, Malvern and Whitchurch.