Trio jailed for burglary spree
Five burglaries on same day in three counties
THREE men who carried out a series of shop burglaries across three counties in one night have been sentenced to a combined total of seven years, eight months.
Reuben Reynolds, Dominic Alderton and Danny Gray stole more than £15,700 of cigarettes and caused tens of thousands of pounds of damage to businesses that they targeted in their preplanned spree.
The Nottinghamshire trio each pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit burglary in previous appearances at Nottingham Crown Court.
The court heard the five burglaries happened in Staffordshire, Leicestershire and Nottinghamshire on 21 January 2016.
The first was a failed break-in at a Sainsbury’s in Tamworth, Staffordshire, at 12.10am. They forced entry with crowbars after failing to remove the metal shutters with a strap attached to a car. However, they fled empty-handed after failing for force internal shutters.
Twenty minutes later they escaped with over £4,450 of cigarettes from Newsagent H&B Ward, in Market Bosworth, Leicestershire. A door was forced open with a crowbar before the cigarettes were loaded into plastic dustbins.
Then at 12.52am, they again left empty handed after forcing open a metal shutter and damaging locks at Daybreak Services in Packington, Leicestershire.
They then stole over £5,260 of cigarettes after forcing a roller shutter and front door at Dilips convenience store, in Shepshed, Leicestershire, at 1.10am.
The spree came to an end after they forced open a shutter and doors at the Londis petrol station shop on the A1 southbound at Muskham, Nottinghamshire, at 3.15am. They escaped with over £6,000 of cigarettes.
All of the break-ins involved a black Subaru Impreza, which the men bought from a car dealer in Stockport, Greater Manchester, on 17 January, the court was told. The car was then fitted with number plates reported to have been stolen from a Ford S-Max parked in Church Walk, Duffield, Derbyshire, between 8.30pm on 20 January and 8am on 21 January.
Detectives from Nottinghamshire Police pieced together the evidence against the men, including CCTV footage, automatic number plate recognition camera pictures and mobile phone records.
Reynolds, 34, of College Close, Newark, was sentenced to 3 years.
Alderton, 29, of Devon Road, Newark, was given 2 years, 4 months.
Gray, 36, of Gilbert Avenue, Tuxford, was also handed 2 years, 4 months.
Detective Sergeant Andy Rhodes, of Nottinghamshire Police, said: “This was an organised group of people involved in the pre-planning of offending whereby they obtained resources to commit burglaries within three counties in one night.
“They stole several thousands of pounds of cigarettes and causing multiple thousands of pounds of damage and disruption to businesses.
“A dedicated investigation team conducted enquiries and gathered overwhelming evidence that led to them all pleading guilty at court.”