And finally…it’s written all over your face!

The Co-op has teamed-up with forensic technology company SmartWater to employ the deterrent which is a unique forensic finger-print to link criminals back to the scene of a crime.

In a first, SmartWater has adapted its dispersal technology to ensures that criminals who attack ATMs, as well as any cash they steal, are marked with the invisible gel.

With a reduction in ATM crime of more than 90 per cent when the technology was piloted at over 300 locations in 2016, the technology is now being rolled-out to all cash dispensers located at Co-op food stores UK-wide.

ATM crime methods vary, with gas pumped gas into machines until it bursts open, or cutting offences where brute force of high-powered tools are employed, or so-called ‘Drag Out ’ offences, primarily using heavy plant, rip the machines from the walls the are embedded.

All been used throughout the UK and Scotland, in particular the north east, has seen a combination of these techniques employed as hole-in-the-walls have been targeted.

But the manufacturers of the new deterrent say the technology is effective regardless of how an ATM comes under attack.

Designed by a former Police officer and his scientist brother, the unique forensic signature at each ATM increases the risk to criminals of being tracked and traced by Police following a theft, leading to conviction.

An amount of the gel, only visible under ultra-violet light, the size of a speck of dust can provide the “solution” for forensic investigators to undertake a successful analysis and help Police with identification, with the forensic signature guaranteed to last five years.

Phil Cleary, CEO and Co-Founder of SmartWater, said: “This technical development represents a serious upgrade in the security of ATMs as SmartWater products have helped convict hundreds of criminals world-wide and retains a 100pc track record in Court.

“Simply, the ATMs protected by SmartWater now represent too high a risk for criminals and the more professional will give them a wide berth.”