Burglar and car thief given five years in jail
APROLIFIC burglar who stole two cars from the same house in Runcorn while roaming north Cheshire to steal high-value cars has been sent down for five years.
Charlie Swann, 23, of Deysbrook Lane, West Derby, claimed he was the lookout in a group that stole Range Rovers, a BMW X3, BMW 330, and a Seat Leon
Prosecutor Michael Stephenson told Chester Crown Court the ‘rough and ready’ estimated value of the four stolen cars was around £117,000.
Swann pleaded guilty this morning to four burglaries, five counts of theft, one of trespassing with intent to steal and one attempted burglary.
He asked for four other burglaries to be ‘taken into consideration’, bringing the total to eight burglaries.
Swann and associates targeted properties in Runcorn, Winsford, Liverpool, and Northwich over the space of around two weeks in May, snapping locks to break inside.
Mr Stephenson said the burglars appeared to be ‘quite cavalier’ about stealing cars, even abandoning a stolen Range Rover on Hollybank Road in Runcorn.
Police managed to trace most of the vehicles but the whereabouts of a stolen BMW X3 stolen from an address on Sage Drive in Liverpool on May 8 remains unknown.
False plates were fitted to one car, which was ‘witnessed by an individual who took photographs’.
Swann is believed to have been aided by others, and Mr Stephenson said Swann was spotted travelling ‘in convoy with three men from West
Yorkshire’ who are now ‘in the hands of Merseyside Police’.
In addition to the Sage Drive incident, the other charges related to:
Stealing keys and a Range Rover Sport from Mornant Avenue in Northwich at some point from May 6-9.
Swiping a Range Rover Evoque in Northwich some time between May 14 and May 17.
Stealing two sets of car keys from a house on Hollybank Road in Halton Village, Runcorn, on May 16 and making off with a BMW 330 and VW Golf GTE. On May 19, he attempted to enter a house on Nunhouse Drive in Winsford as a trespasser with intent to steal, and also attempted to commit burglary at that same property. Again on May 19, he took part in a burglary on Wharton Drive in Winsford and made off with a Seat Leon.
The four TIC offences related to burglaries in Northwich on May 8 and May 16, and two burglaries in Winsford on May 19.
Swann had recently been released from prison on licence after serving part of a four-year sentence for being involved in 33 burglaries.
Officers from Cheshire police brought his latest spree to an end by arresting him on May 19.
Having been returned to prison already, he is not due to be released from that last sentenced until April 2022.
His first convictions date back to his youth.
Tom Watson, defending, said his client said had been the lookout and had not played a more serious role.
He conceded Swann had an ‘unenviable record for someone so young” but said he was still “vulnerable to the influence of others’.
Mr Watson added: “As well as pleading guilty, he really is making a very significant effort to wipe the slate clean so that this is all behind him when he has served the sentence he’s about to serve.”
He said Swann’s criminal behaviour had ‘spiralled’ after ‘visiting his father’s grave’, and Mr Watson urged the judge to ‘read between the lines’ of a letter from Swann’s mother, who Mr Watson said was ‘at her wit’s end’ over trying to support her wayward son.
Judge Patrick Thompson expressed scepticism over Swann’s intent to shun crime from now on, observing that he would have made a similar claim entreaties when he appeared at Liverpool Crown Court in 2018 and asked for 18 burglaries to be taken into consideration.
He said a starting point after trial would have been eight years, and he reduced that to five years for his guilty pleas and other mitigating factors.
Sentencing Swann, who appeared by videolink from HMP Altcourse, Judge Thompson said: “It can’t be too long after your release and on licence, you set out no doubt with others from Liverpool on what was a targeted spree of burglaries.
“All of them were nocturnal, at night time, when people were in their homes.
“All of them involved targeting car keys so you could steal a number of relatively high value vehicles, the value somewhere in excess of £100,000.
“You know that burglary causes a great deal of distress for people whose homes have been invaded.
“Often people never feel the same way about their homes again, often people simply don’t feel safe.”
Speaking after Swann’s sentencing last Thursday, Detective Constable Paul Matchett, from Northwich Local Policing Unit said: “Swann is a career criminal who targeted homes across the region.
“He began committing his most recent offences less than 24 hours after being released from prison for previous burglary convictions.
“Thankfully, as a result of a thorough investigation by the team here at
Northwich, he is now facing the consequences of his actions.
“The evidence against Swann in this case was undisputable and he had no option but to plead guilty to all of the charges.
“I hope that the sentence handed to Swann provides reassurance to the victims and acts as a warning to other offenders who are looking to come to Cheshire to commit their crimes.”