Three masked burglars - one who had got drunk at a wake - travelled from Doncaster to Nottinghamshire to raid a home. Defendant Andrew Gaskin was said by his lawyer to have desperately needed money.
Jake Hodgetts got drunk and decided to break into a property, while co-accused Terry Nichol, also known as Platts, had too much to drink at a wake and was picked up by the others and went along with the idea. Nottingham Crown Court heard they raided a couple's home, where they had lived for 50 years, on June 1, 2022.
After travelling from Yorkshire, they got out of a car wearing face-coverings and forced entry at the rear door, and damaged windows, at the property in Kirton Park, Kirton, near Ollerton. They went into various rooms and made messy searches when the homeowners were on holiday.
Read more: Nottinghamshire mums who lost sons to knife crime issue powerful message
Despite escaping with two gold wedding bands, gold necklaces, a wallet and brooches, thanks to vigilant neighbours, the offenders were tracked down within an hour, and all the stolen property recovered. An eyewitness heard one of the men say he would stab her - although there was no suggestion violence was used in the raid, explained Luc Chignell, prosecuting, on Tuesday (November 15).
After all three offenders pleaded guilty to burglary, Judge Mark Watson told them they had travelled from the Yorkshire area in a car - which turned out to have false numberplates and was stolen - but none of them were responsible for that. "Each of you travelled to that location, got out of the vehicle, donned face-coverings," said the judge.
"I infer it was not targeted but a planned trip away from the local area to commit crime at Kirton Park." He said they were stopped due to the diligence of local neighbours, who saw their vehicle, heard the alarm and called police.
Nichol, 27, of Ingram Street, Leeds, who had two previous convictions on his record for burglary, was jailed for 27 months. Hodgetts, 30, of Westend Avenue, Bentley, Doncaster, and Gaskin, 28, of Chesnut Court, Bentley, Doncaster, were sentenced to 16 months in prison, with 12 months of post-sentence supervision from the probation service on licence.
Detective Sergeant Georgina Gallagher, of Nottinghamshire Police, said at the time of the raid: “Thanks to the quick actions of our officers, we were able to arrest three suspects on suspicion of burglary and also recover stolen property, including a car that was reportedly taken in a separate incident. It is extremely important that we respond to each and every report we receive of burglary because we understand just how much of a lasting impact this invasive crime can have on people.
“Nobody has the right to break into another person’s home and take things that don’t belong to them, so we will always do whatever we can to investigate incidents of this nature and bring anyone found guilty of committing this crime to justice".
READ NEXT:
Trial date put back for Dr Jonathan Peter Brooks who denies attempted murder
Nottinghamshire man accused of possessing cannabis faces 8 month wait for trial
Burglar captured after he left his fingerprints on bottles of booze in West Bridgford
Violent and drunken barechested offender kicked out at policewoman in Newark
Fatal Nottingham crash which killed grandad was circulated on WhatsApp
