Gang sentenced following burglary in which war medals and OBE were stolen

Fredrick Stewart, 22, from Rochdale, James Gray, 18, from Rochdale and a 17-year-old youth, who cannot be named for legal reasons, have been given custodial sentences for their parts in a burglary that saw war medals and an OBE stolen.

Stewart of Bar Terrace, Rochdale was given a 12 month jail sentence and Gray of Berwick Street, Rochdale was sent to a young offender’s institution for a year.

The 17-year-old youth was made the subject of a 12-month detention and training order.

Michael Stewart, who lives in Doncaster, a fourth man involved with the incident, had his 12-month sentence suspended for two years. Stewart will also have to do 200 hours of unpaid work and comply with a rehabilitation activity requirement as part of a 12-month community order, attached to his suspended sentence.

The gang broke into the 76-year-old complainant’s home in September and ransacked the bedroom before making off in a Volkswagen Golf, which was using false registration plates.

The police were contacted by a neighbour who witnessed the break in. The gang were then pursued by officers along Rochdale Road before the vehicle was abandoned at the roadside, as they tried to escapes across moorland.

Bradford Crown Court heard that the elderly widow was so upset after the incident, in which her late husband’s war medals and OBE were stolen, that she considered leaving her home in Greetland, where she had lived, undisturbed, for 37 years.

The court also heard that the elderly lady had been out of the house at the time of the incident and broke down in tears when she saw the mess in her home.

The war medals and the OBE were never recovered. However, one of the offenders was arrested with a stolen necklace in his possession and officers found a safe that was taken from the house in the abandoned car.

Judge Peter Benson, who sentenced the gang, took into account early guilty pleas to burglary from all four defendants and stated that immediate custody was inevitable for three of them.