Burglary gang is locked up for ten years
JON MACPHERSON
THREE men behind a burglary spree across East Lancashire have been locked up for a total of ten years.
Dylan Williams, 23, Jacob Fisher, 19, and Benjamin Cross, 24, all from Hyndburn, raided eleven homes while owners slept, and stole valuable vehicles and electrical items, a court heard.
The trio forced their way into homes through insecure doors, grabbing car keys before driving off in the vehicles.
Judge James Adkin said it was ‘serious, organised and lucrative criminality’. When Williams was arrested, officers found a ‘burglary kit’ in a car which contained hooded tops, gloves, a screwdriver and a face mask.
Victim impact statements read out in court told how the burglary victims were left suffering from ‘depression and anxiety’ with many having trouble sleeping.
Williams, of Oswald Street, Accrington, was jailed for five years and Fisher, of James Avenue, Great Harwood, was given a 40-month sentence at a young offenders institute.
Cross, of Hermitage Street, Rishton, who was previously jailed for two years for two of the burglaries, was given a further two-year jail sentence.
JON MACPHERSON
THREE Hyndburn men who embarked on a burglary and car theft spree across East Lancashire have been locked up for more than 10 years.
Dylan Williams, Jacob Fisher and Benjamin Cross raided 11 homes while their owners slept and stole valuable vehicles and electrical items, a court heard.
Peter Gilmour, prosecuting, told Preston Crown Court how the offences were committed over a three-week period in August 2016 and that many of the homes had children living inside.
He told the court: “They used the same modus operandi in all of them. They entered people’s houses at night while they were at home asleep.
“In all cases but two exceptions they gained entry by insecure doors.
“Once inside they took the keys to the vehicles and then used those keys to take the vehicles themselves. They took a total of nine cars and a scooter.
“They also stole other high value items including laptops, mobile phones and watches.”
Fisher, 19, and Cross, 24, were arrested while travelling in a convoy of stolen vehicles on August 27, 2016. They were found with stolen bank cards, driving licences and keys to a BMW and Vauxhall Insignia.
Mr Gilmour told the court that an examination of their mobiles phones showed that they were in contact with each other both before and after the burglaries.
Their phones also contained text messages about ‘disposing of the vehicles and items stolen in burglary’.
Williams, 23, was arrested two weeks later on September 13 after committing another burglary and vehicle theft and was stopped in a stolen Suzuki Swift with false number plates.
The court heard that officers found a ‘burglary kit’ in the car which contained hooded tops, gloves, broken pieces of a spark plug, a screwdriver and a face mask. Victim impact statements read out in court told how the burglary victims were left suffering from ‘depression and anxiety’ with many having trouble sleeping and ‘fearing’ leaving their houses empty.
The burglaries took place in Hapton, Burnley, Clitheroe and Colne.
Williams, of Oswald Street, Accrington, Fisher, of James Avenue, Great Harwood, and Cross, of Hermitage Street, Rishton, all pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit burglary and conspiracy to steal.
Williams also pleaded guilty to separate offences of burglary and theft of motor vehicles and was jailed for five years and four months.
Fisher pleaded guilty to separate offences of possessing crack cocaine, cocaine, heroin and cannabis with intent to supply and was given a 40-month sentence at a young offenders institute.
Cross, who was previously jailed for two years for two of the burglaries in the conspiracy, was given a further two-year jail sentence.
Judge James Adkin said it was ‘serious, organised and lucrative criminality’.
Sentencing, he said: “Burglary of dwelling houses are always serious offences because of the sense of intrusion for the families that live in those homes, knowing that one or more of you crept around those houses stealing from the premises.”