Two burglars targeted 85 new build homes across the North East in a crime spree which netted them items worth more than £100,000.
Over a four month period, Michael Bell and Mark Blaney repeated broke into properties on developments in Newcastle, Northumberland, County Durham, Sunderland Cumbria and North Yorkshire. Newcastle Crown Court heard they stole items including boilers and white goods from the homes, some of which had already been sold.
At some of the sites, which had been build by companies including Bellway, Taylor Wimpey and Persimmon, they also caused damage to French doors and flooding when they removed boilers. The pair both admitted 14 counts of burglary and have now each been jailed for two years.
Emma Dowling, prosecuting, told the court: “Both defendants have pleaded guilty to high value non-dwelling burglary offences targeting new-build developments. They targeted items such as boilers, doors and white goods.
“There are 14 counts and both defendants have pleaded guilty. Each offence reflects a number of separate properties burgled at the same time. In total 85 new build homes were burgled over a four month period.”
(Image: Northumbria Police)
The offences happened between September 2023 and January 2024. In each case the house building was complete and some of them had been sold.
Police became aware of a van spotted in the area of one burglary at a site in Walbottle, Newcastle, and obtained a registration number. That led police to a vehicle hire firm and tracking data linked it to a series of sites which had been burgled around the North East and North Yorkshire and showed the occupants would return to Seaham, where they were living, afterwards.
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They stole 26 external doors and some internal doors, worth £15,000, from a cabin at Silksworth, in Sunderland,
At a Bellway development in Walbottle, eight homes were targeted, with hobs, cookers and boilers stolen. They broke in through rear french doors and the value of the items stolen was just over £11,000.
(Image: Northumbria Police)
White goods worth £6,000 were stolen from one house in Darlington, a boiler worth £1,100 was taken from a house in Pontefract, boilers were taken from seven properties in Harrogate, worth £15,000, boilers worth £6,000 were stolen from eight homes in Boroughbridge, 12 homes in Knaresborough were broken into, causing a loss of £8,400 and damage, including flooding. A further 17 houses in Knaresborough were also broken into, with 16 boilers taken.
They also returned to the site in Walbottle and stole white goods worth £2,000 and took white goods worth £2,500 from a development in Carlisle.
The pair then stole boilers and white goods in Cramlington, boilers from Silksworth, eight boilers in Harrogate and they stole from 13 homes in North Yorkshire, taking external doors, taps and boilers.
Bell, 34, of Wynyard Street, Seaham, County Durham, who has previous convictions for theft and having a bladed article and Blaney, 31, of Malvern Crescent, Seaham, who has no previous convictions, pleaded guilty to 14 counts of non-dwelling burglary and Bell also admitted converting criminal property in relation to £7,300 of his ill-gotten gains he paid into a bank account.
Jailing them for two years, Recorder Nicholas Lumley KC said the offending was “systematic” and added: “You kept getting away with it and became ever more greedy.”
The judge said it was not victimless offending as home buyers, builders and contractors were all impacted. He told them: “It was prolific, persistent, well-planned and perpetrated with care.”
Helen Towers, for Bell, said: “He was a man struggling with addiction. He suffered a cocaine addiction and a gambling addiction. He was under significant emotional distress after a number of bereavements.”
Miss Towers added that Bell is now drug-free, has addressed his gambling habit and has the offer of full time work. She added: “He has expressed remorse and regret for his actions.
“He seems to have thought this was almost a victimless crime at the time. He has been able to understand this is awful offending.”
Kate Barnes, for Blaney, said: “He was a member of the armed forces and was medically discharged. Since that, he has struggled to support his partner and children. When an opportunity was raised to raise money to support his family, he effectively turned a blind eye to the consequences for the victims and for himself and for his family. He is deeply ashamed of what he has done.”
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