Thief jailed after targeting hospitals in lockdown

A SERIAL thief who repeatedly targeted hospitals during the national Covid-19 lockdown has been given a four-and-a-half-year jail term.

Wayne Bradley, 30, described by West Midlands Police as a career criminal, was arrested after targeting Birmingham’s children’s and women’s hospitals in April.

Bradley, from Kitts Gardens, Bartley Green, “conned and tailgated” medical staff to gain access into unauthorised areas, police said.

The burglar was already the subject of a Criminal Behaviour Order, banning him from local hospitals, after being found to have committed similar offences.

Bradley was arrested after stealing staff mobile phones from a restricted area within Birmingham Children’s Hospital on April 15, a week after taking a purse from Solihull Hospital.

Inquiries also linked Bradley to further offences committed at a care complex in Bournville and Birmingham Women’s Hospital, as well as the theft of a laptop from a cardiac unit at Birmingham Children’s Hospital.

Bradley pleaded guilty at Birmingham Crown Court on Wednesday and was sentenced for burglary offences and breaches of his Criminal Behaviour Order.

Sergeant Julia Slater commented: “Bradley is a callous and uncaring career criminal who has gone out of his way to deliberately target the most vulnerable in society.

“While the rest of the country was in lockdown, he was going out to steal from those people most at risk, and most shocking of all, to steal from selfless members of the NHS who were putting their own safety on the line to help save others.”