Burglar snared by his own toothbrush
The mastermind behind a spate of burglaries carried out over a 46-day period last year has been jailed after being snared by his own toothbrush.
Jerry Berry, 27, pleaded guilty to his part in a conspiracy to commit burglaries and steal cars from homes across the country.
Berry, who tried to flee from the dock at Shrewsbury Crown Court, was sentenced to seven years in prison yesterday.
The court heard how between June 2 and July 27 last year Berry and his gang targeted homes stealing cash, jewellery and high-value cars.
The burglaries were carried out in Oswestry, Gobowen, Wednesfield in Wolverhampton, Cheshire, North Wales and Buckinghamshire.
And the Shropshire police officer who worked on the case has welcomed the sentence, saying the value of the stolen cars and property ran into hundreds of thousands of pounds.
Det Sgt Andy Chatting said: "Berry masterminded the theft of high-performance vehicles which were then used to commit further burglary offences after the number plates of legitimate vehicles were used to disguise the stolen cars."
He added: "Berry, who was already serving a prison sentence for other offences but previously lived in the Wrexham area, recruited his relatives to carry out this crime spree and several of them have also been arrested and convicted during the police operation."
Where they spotted that the householder owned an expensive car the gang would find the keys and steal the vehicle, which would later be abandoned – either destroyed by fire or damaged.
On July 16 last year, a home in Shropshire was burgled and the owner's Audi was stolen.
Six days later, being driven by Berry, it was involved in a crash on the A41 in Chester. He fled but left his mobile phone and a toothbrush in the car which were examined and linked to Berry.
He was arrested and charged with offences of conspiracy to commit burglary, conspiracy to steal, theft and dangerous driving, which he admitted. He was also disqualified from driving for three years.
Emily Colley, senior crown prosecutor from West Midlands CPS, said: "This has been a very complex and challenging prosecution which has involved West Midlands CPS working closely with five separate police forces."
