TWO men who were caught on camera using a ribbon or a lead to remove bank notes from a cash machine have been jailed for 12 months.

Constantin Razyan Tanase and Adrian Tanase were tracked by town centre cameras after security staff at Poole's Dolphin Centre saw a total of three men acting suspiciously around a TSB cash machine in Falkland Square.

Two of the men were seen to remove bank notes to the value of £230 from the machine.

The offence took place at 10.15pm on Thursday January 10 this year.

And police later discovered the pair are responsible for thefts from other cash machines in Dorset and further afield, which netted them over £5,000 in total.

Constantin, 32, and Adrian Tanase, 36, both from Waverley Road in London, admitted five charges of theft from cash machines when they appeared before Bournemouth Crown Court.

Adrian Tanase also admitted a charge of possessing or controlling an article for use in fraud.

He was also found to have a bank card in his pocket that was not in his name when the two men were arrested.

Further reports had been received of cash being stolen from TSB machines in High West Street Dorchester and Old Christchurch Road in Bournemouth in the early hours of Friday January 4, with £300 and £280 taken respectively. A further incident happened in Old Christchurch Road in the early hours of Sunday December 30, where £310 was taken, and a fifth incident occurred at a TSB cash machine on Gillingham High Street.

CCTV from these offences was obtained and Constantin and Adrian Tanase were identified as the men responsible.

The defendants also asked for three cash machine thefts in Suffolk of £3,100 and three in Norfolk of £1,460 that occurred on Sunday January 6 and Monday January 7 to be taken into consideration when they were sentenced.

Detective Constable Garry Weston, of Bournemouth CID, said: "These two men were responsible for a number of thefts from cash machines not just across Dorset but elsewhere in the country.

"Thanks to the actions of the security staff at the Dolphin Centre, the Poole town centre camera team and the swift response of officers we were able to arrest them and bring them to justice for their offending."