Antiques gang preyed on Alzheimer’s victims

AN ANTIQUES dealer and his two accomplices who arranged the theft of antiques from the homes of elderly Alzheimer’s sufferers have been jailed for a total of 19 years.

Paul Ansbro, 55, would knock on doors under the ruse of buying and selling items to identify elderly victims living in detached, remote houses in wealthy villages.

He then tipped off Steven Abberley, 42, a tattooist, and his son Mason, 19, so they could break in.

The goods, which ranged from paintings and china to silver trinket boxes, were worth more than £120,000. Police were able to recover only £1,000, the rest having disappeared to fund the gang’s drugs and gambling habits, Hove Crown Court, East Sussex, heard.

The gang carried out 12 burglaries, targeting homes in East and West Sussex, and properties in Hampshire, Wiltshire, Essex and Cambridgeshire.

Judge Anthony Niblett said: “The items stolen were of huge monetary and emotional value, these were dearly loved and cherished possessions.”

The men admitted the various charges against them. Ansbro, of Hove, received a sentence of seven-and-a-half years for handling stolen goods and burglary. Steven Abberley, also of Hove, was jailed for nine years for burglary. Mason Abberley admitted burglary and will spend two-and-a-half years in a young offenders’ institution.