Burglars embark on £20,000 Selfridges shopping spree
A LOUGHBOROUGH man was part gang of burglars who splashed out £20,000 on designer goods in a single Selfridges shopping trip.
The Birmingham Bullring department store frenzy came after they brazenly stole a safe from a country house while the occupants were asleep.
They broke into the property in Main Street, Illston on the Hill, near Kibworth, in the early hours of Friday September 27.
A Land Rover Discovery, stolen in another burglary earlier the same night, was used to ferry the safe to secluded woodland where it was smashed open.
Leicester Crown Court was told the safe contained £20,000 of earnings from the victim’s business.
Jonathan Dunne, prosecuting, said it was a busy night for the crooks who also burgled a house in Leicester’s Wicklow Drive, in Crown Hills, where they stole car keys and a Mercedes - later found abandoned half-a-mile away.
Barry Kew Moss (21), of Limehurst Avenue, Loughborough, Aurel Sadiki (22), of Poplar Road, Littlethorpe, Jacob Wesley (26), of Aneford Road, Northfields, Leicester, and Oliver Read (23), of Aylestone Lane, Wigston, all admitted the Illston on the Hill burglary and theft of the safe.
The four also admitted burgling a house seven miles away, in North End, Hallaton, near Market Harborough, when a Land Rover Discovery was taken from the drive.
All, except the defendant Read, admitted burglary in Wicklow Drive and taking a Mercedes.
Mr Dunne told the court that after forcing open the stolen safe - along with a fifth accomplice who had already been sentenced - they went to Birmingham and spent the £20,000 proceeds in Selfridges.
Footage from one of their mobile phones was said to show the safe being cracked open and the group later displaying the results of their shopping spree, surrounded by an array of carrier bags.
Mr Dunne said: “Sadiki could be overheard (on a video clip) bragging he was one of the people who got into the house and stole the safe.”
The victim who lost the £20,000 was described as feeling “violated and angry.”
Her marriage had broken down and she was planning to use the money towards a new home and a fresh start.
The other burglary victims and their families - who were also asleep in their beds when the culprits broke in - were also distressed and upset, said the prosecutor.
Judge Nicholas Dean QC said: “It would be inaccurate to describe the burglaries as professional, but they were organised and the targeted premises were identified as likely to contain valuable belongings.
“There was a degree of planning and a high level of loss.
“You participated in these burglaries as part of a group or gang.”
Of the Illston on the Hill offence, the judge said: “This was a burglary at 3am of a substantial property when the householders were present and asleep.
“There was some skill and care involved with a safe being stolen. Sadly for the owner, it contained a large amount of cash. I don’t take the view you could have known that.
“The owner earned that money from work and it was intended to be used as part and parcel of the separation from her husband.”
Judge Dean said: “These were truly shocking burglaries of a most serious type.
“Each of you have been in trouble before, it is Sadiki’s third strike burglary appearance.
“I take into account that serving time in prison is, at the moment, more of a hardship than would otherwise be the case - it does affect the length of the sentences to a limited extent.”
Defence counsel all said their clients had been locked up for more than 23 hours a day in custody, since the pandemic outbreak, and were not allowed visits from loved ones.
Ekwall Tiwana, mitigating for Kew Moss, said he was finding it difficult to cope in prison; affecting both his physical and mental health.
Gurdip Garcha, for Sadiki, said: “He has a strong desire to change his ways. He’s expressed remorse and regret.”
Paul Prior, for Read, said his client was being sentenced for two of the three break-ins and added: “This is his first involvement in dwelling house burglary.”
Tom Edwards, representing Wesley, said his client was jobless and without stable accommodation at the time. Suffering from depression, Wesley had lapsed into cocaine use - but was now rehabilitated.
He added: “He would like to issue an apology, through me, to those affected by his crimes.”
Sadiki was jailed for four years and six months. Kew Moss and Wesley each received sentences of three years and nine months.
Read was jailed for three years.