Jewellery thieves who stole more than £1.8m worth of goods jailed

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A gang of jewellery thieves who stole more than £1.8m worth of goods have been jailed thanks. Fraser Hart Jewellers on Yorkshire Street, Rochdale, was one of the one of the premises attacked.

Dale Fitzpatrick (born 08/07/1984) of Seymour Avenue, Clayton, Paul James Smith (born 24/03/1986) of Devon Close, Brinnington, Stockport, Philip Clarke (born 15/03/1987) of Lymm Close, Bridgehall, Lewis Murkin (born 10/01/1986) of Daresbury Close, Bridgehall and Michael Stephen Bradbury (aka Rollings) (born 17/11/1985), of Church View, Lymm, Cheshire, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit robbery and conspiracy to commit burglary at an earlier hearing. 

Today, Wednesday 24 October 2012, they have been jailed at Minshull Street Crown Court.

Fitzpatrick was jailed for 10 years, Smith for nine years and four months, Clarke for four years, Murkin for four years and eight months and Bradbury for three years and eight months.

The conspiracy encompasses 12 separate offences of burglary and robbery.

Fitzpatrick asked for a further 49 offences to be taken into consideration, including burglaries at homes, businesses premises and theft of cars. Smith asked for a further 38 similar offences to be taken into consideration. The TICs bring the total of detected offences to more than 100.

More than £1.8m worth of goods, including jewellery, cars and all the property stolen from the further offences that were taken into consideration, were stolen by the gang.

The Force Robbery Unit unmasked and dismantled the organised crime group, who used stolen cars to target high street jewellers.

The gang would often arm themselves with weapons such as crowbars and swords to attack the jewellers during busy trading hours while members of the public were shopping, using balaclavas to disguise themselves.

However, thanks to the Force Robbery Unit the six men involved in the conspiracy are now behind bars.

Detective Inspector Chris Duffy, from the Force Robbery Unit, said: "These men were involved in a plot stretching at least four months to steal cars which would then be used to target high street jewellers.

"The mere fact the conspiracy involves more than 20 criminal acts shows just how determined and persistent these criminals were, and had it not been for my officers who locked them up and put them away for a long time, these men would undoubtedly be out there today committing more robberies.

"What makes it worse is that they were prepared to use weapons to frighten and intimidate innocent shopworkers into getting their hands on the jewellery. These robberies also happened in full view of members of the public and thankfully no-one was injured although one elderly woman was threatened with a Samurai sword. Make no mistake - the streets are far safer now these men are behind bars.

"For the vast majority of people, being confronted by weapon-wielding masked men is not something they ever have to experience. No-one should face this in their place of work, so today is a victory for all those shopworkers who came face-to-face with these criminals.

"I hope this case sends out a message to the criminal fraternity that no matter how long it takes, we will use all the resources at our disposal to disrupt your activities and send you to prison. We may even be watching you now, so if you are involved in this sort of criminal conspiracy, you can expect my officers to come through your door and you will be taken away in cuffs."