A GANG of five men has been jailed for their part in a string of nine burglaries in the Warrington area targeting high-powered vehicles and valuable jewellery.
The gang even went to the lengths of travelling to one of the victims’ holiday homes in the Lake District to steal their car after stealing jewellery and a calendar at the Warrington address. The calendar had their holiday cottage postcode written on it.
They appeared at Liverpool Crown Court, yesterday, Thursday 29 August to be sentenced after pleading guilty to conspiracy to commit a burglary with intent to steal.
Harley Jones-Joyce, 18, of Hollyhedge Road, Manchester was sentenced to four years two months, Niall Ritchie, 19, of Plowden Road, Manchester was sentenced to one year nine months, Conrad Strachan 21, of Hearle Drive, Manchester was sentenced to two years in prison, Harry Hosker, 29, of Glazebrook Lane, Rixton-with-Glazebrook was sentenced to five years, and Alex Higson, 28, of HMP Liverpool was sentenced to six years five months. Strachan was also sentenced to one year three months for a Greater Manchester Police matter along with Ritchie who was also sentenced to one year three months.
The charges relate to nine burglaries which occurred in the Warrington East area between August and November 2023. The gang targeted high powered vehicles and valuable jewellery.
In January this year, detectives from Warrington Proactive Policing Team (PPT), supported by colleagues from Halton PPT, Macclesfield PPT and Greater Manchester Police, conducted a series of warrants across Greater Manchester following an investigation into the burglaries.
CCTV gathered as part of the investigation provided an opportunity to identify the suspects and provided an avenue for further investigations. Detectives would later find they had been in regular communication with each other and that the burglaries were not far from Hosker’s address at the time. They were also in communication with each other before and after the burglaries and some stolen items belonging to the victims were recovered from their addresses during the warrants.
They also left mole grips at one of the addresses which was tested for DNA and came back matching that of Higson.
DS David Gerrard said: “Further enquiries showed that they even went to the lengths of travelling to one of the victims’ holiday homes in the Lake District to steal their car after stealing jewellery and a calendar at the Warrington address. The calendar had their holiday cottage postcode written on it.
“The suspects were regularly in contact with each other and discussed potential targets and sent photos and videos of the stolen vehicles to each other. They also photographed stolen property and recorded themselves handling it. The evidence against them was substantial resulting in their guilty pleas and now they have thankfully been brought to justice.
“I hope this reassures residents that we do understand the devastating impact of burglary and treat this type of crime very seriously – stopping at nothing to find those responsible.”
