Three men sentenced following conspiracy to burgle across South West

On 10 June, at Swindon Crown Court, three men who are part of an organised crime group based on the outskirts of Gloucester were sentenced to a total of 24 years imprisonment for their parts in a large scale conspiracy to burgle.

Joseph William Butler, 25 from Willows Caravan site, Sandhurst, Gloucester received a seven years custodial sentence.

Jesse Gregory, 50 from School Hill, Brinkworth, Chippenham was sentenced to 10 years.

David Wayne Royles, 53 from Sandhurst Lane, Gloucester received a seven years custodial sentence.

All three were given discounts for time already served.

The men admitted to their part in the conspiracy at earlier hearings.

The conspiracy included 120 burglary offences at commercial properties spanning five police force areas (Wiltshire, Gloucestershire, Thames Valley, Devon & Cornwall and West Mercia). They caused an estimated £471,847 of damage in the commission of the offences and stole around £211,000 in cash.

The majority of offences occurred in Wiltshire so a small team of detectives from Salisbury with assistance from other Forces including Gloucestershire took ownership of the case, to get justice for over a hundred victims.

On 28th May 2015 a large team of officers from Wiltshire, Gloucestershire and Thames Valley Police carried out raids on a number of addresses in Wiltshire and Gloucestershire and arrested the men.

The same modus operandi was used during just over a year of offending from 1 January 2014 – 20 January 2015. They targeted commercial properties in isolated rural areas such as garden centres, golf clubs and service stations during the night.

The men used Subaru 4×4’s to approach the targets ‘off road’. This became a major factor in the conspiracy as Subaru vehicles can be seen in the majority of CCTV footage gathered by the detectives and were often described by witnesses at the scene.

The men used varying amounts of force to enter the properties, even using their vehicle to ‘ram’ a building, removing an entire exterior wall. The trio specifically targeted safes and would attempt to remove the whole unit. They tied straps around the heavier safes and used the Subaru’s to drag them out to be forcibly opened later.

Officers believed that Gregory and Butler attempted to cover their tracks by using 17 different mobile phones between them during the period of offending.

Detectives painstakingly scrutinized call records and used cell site analysis to pinpoint phone numbers directly attributed to the men in a large number of the burglaries.

DC Jem Horner from Wiltshire Police said: “These men caused a colossal amount of damage to businesses, apart from around half a million in damage to property and £211,484 in cash stolen, the additional financial implications, inconvenience and distress and have had a far higher toll on the victims. They left behind a trail of destruction, which in this case added to the pattern and led to their capture and an end to their crime spree.”

DC/I Marc Flannery from Gloucestershire said: ‘The success of this operation is down to the expertise of the team from Wiltshire with intelligence support from Gloucestershire Police. This effort has seen the serious disruption of a locally based organised crime group. As a Force we are increasingly focussing on these groups of criminals who cause the most harm and misery to the public. We will do this through investigation, intelligence and increased partnership working.’

Gloucester News Centre – http://gloucesternewscentre.co.uk