A GANG of professional burglars went on a crime spree totalling £2.6 million as they raided businesses across the West Midlands.
Five men from Wolverhampton targeted 10 businesses in Birmingham, Wolverhampton, Dudley, Walsall, Bilston, Perry Barr, Brierley Hill, Kidderminster, Tamworth and Shrewsbury, stealing metal, vehicles and other goods.
They would use the vehicles to transport the stolen items to their base at an industrial unit on Watery Lane, Wolverhampton, before police believe they sold the metal on to “unscrupulous" scrap dealers.
Footage released by West Midlands Police shows the masked men laughing and joking as they raid numerous businesses, causing £200,000 of damage in their wake.
They left taunting messages to their victims, spray painting “ha ha” and “Merry Xmas and Happy New Year” onto the floors of their targets, after striking over the Christmas period when businesses were closed.
They filmed several of the raids and can be heard referring to themselves as the “Sticky Bandits”, in reference to the burglars from the beloved Christmas film, Home Alone.
The gang went to great lengths to avoid being caught, with three of the gang members using 17 mobile phones between them over the course of the crime spree.
One member of the gang can be heard bragging about how passers-by thought he was mourning at a graveside and not ‘scoping out’ a potential target, as he canvassed a business near a cemetery.
In total, the gang stole £1.6 million of goods, with the damage they caused and the cost of increased insurance premiums for the businesses totalling an extra £1 million.
The five men were sentenced on November 8 at Wolverhampton Crown Court after admitting to conspiracy to burgle commercial premises between December 2022 and June 2023.
They received the following sentences:
- Adam Shakespeare, 31, of Harrowby Road, Bilston was jailed for six years and five months
- David Smith, 36, of Cannock Road, Wolverhampton was jailed for six years and four months
- Lee Fletcher, aged 33, of Bunkers Hill Lane, Wolverhampton was jailed for six years and four months
- Royston Hallard, 30, of Coronation Road, Wednesbury was jailed for six years and four months
- David Williams, 44, of Willenhall Road, Wolverhampton was jailed for three years and four months
DC Kelly Whyte, from West Midlands Police’s Major Crime Proactive Unit, said: “This was serious, organised and professional criminality on an industrial scale, that saw the theft of materials and vehicles valued at more than £1.6m, not to mention the disruption to business and emotional impact on those affected.
“They would focus on sites that were tucked away from houses, and struck over holiday periods when they knew the risk of them being disturbed was lower.
“The videos recovered from their mobile phones show how they relished what they were doing and would laugh and joke with each other.
“When we identified similarities between the offences, we launched a major investigation based on forensics, analysis of mobile phones and CCTV which meant we were able to move in and arrest the gang in dawn raids last June.
“We’re pleased that they are now starting significant prison sentences, which should send a message to anyone involved in serious and organised crime that we will hunt them down and bring them to justice.”
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