Telford burglars jailed for £18,000 raid spree across Shropshire
Three burglars were today behind bars after carrying out a 16-day summer spree of raids across Shropshire.
Simon Davies, Leroy Currens and Luke Talbot were jailed for a total of 11 years by a judge at Shrewsbury Crown Court yesterday. They had all pleaded guilty to breaking into five homes during the county-wide spree in which property worth a total of £18,000 was stolen.
Davies, 35, from Rushbury Road, Wellington, was jailed for five years; Currens, 32, of Bromley Way, Telford, was jailed for three and a half years and Talbot, of Vauxhall Crescent, Newport, was jailed for two and a half years.
The gang struck at houses across the county in Whitchurch, Market Drayton, Telford and Crudgington, as well as Nantwich, the court had heard.
Detective Inspector Peter Brophy, head of Shropshire's Burglary Unit, said the sentences sent out a clear message that prolific burglars will receive significant custodial sentences.
He said: "The length of sentence for burglary quite rightly highlights the magnitude of the overall scale of offending that this group were responsible for."
Police in Shropshire also released figures for total burglaries in the county in the wake of the convictions.
Between April 2011 and January last year, there were 527 burglaries while from April 2012 to this month, 525 have been recorded.
Shropshire's police commander, Superintendent James Tozer said: "The latest figures are encouraging, both for us and the public. But I stress there is no room for complacency."
Police recently launched a new operation to crackdown on burglaries, called Citadel.
Superintendent Tozer added: "Our officers have been working tirelessly targeting known burglars to make sure they are brought to justice for the crimes they commit.
"Their hard work as part of Citadel is reflected by almost doubling the number of offenders who have so far been charged this year."
Meanwhile, police in Telford & Wrekin have also reported a decline in burglaries in recent months.
In the borough, compared to the corresponding months last year, burglaries are down in the last five months.
