A gang of burglars who stole computer equipment worth tens of thousands of pounds from 26 schools across the North West have been jailed for nearly 20 years.
Samuel Grimes (born 21/06/1991) of Georgina Court, Bolton, Benjamin Grimes (born 16/02/1990) of Tintern Avenue, Bolton, Mark Rhodes (born 28/10/1985) of Adrian Street, Moston and Christopher Moore (born 02/07/1986) of Wolsey Street, Heywood, were found guilty of conspiracy to commit burglary.
Today, Friday 22 April 2016, Samuel Grimes was jailed for two years and eight months, Benjamin Grimes was jailed for seven years, Mark Rhodes was jailed for six years and six months and Christopher Moore was jailed for three years and four months.
The court heard how the gang targeted 26 different schools across the North West, committing burglaries in multiple locations across Greater Manchester, such as Bolton, Bury and Salford, as well as Liverpool, Wakefield and Rossendale.
Operation Anglesey was an investigation by Bolton Borough officers assisted by Wigan and Bury officers, who were able to link together these 26 different burglaries due to similar methods used by the gang during each break-in.
Typically the gang would use the same modus operandi in each crime, with a member of the group visiting the school during the day and removing an alarm sensor from the main external doors.
This would disable the system and ensure the alarm would not work effectively when it was set at the end of the school day.
On some occasions the gang members would even engage school office staff about potential places for their own children, in order to distract the staff while they stole the door sensors.
The gang would then return when the school was empty, breaking in through the unsecure door and stealing laptops, iPads and computer equipment.
The gang would then sell on the equipment and split the profits, with the stolen goods often being sold across the world.
When the investigating officers used the ‘Find my iPad’ application for one of the stolen items, they were astonished to discover it had ended up in China.
The gang were responsible for tens of thousands of pounds worth of computing equipment being stolen over the course of 2015.
Detective Inspector Charlotte Cadden said: “This is a superb result for our officers, who have worked incredibly hard to bring this gang to justice.
“The impact their crime spree has had on these schools has been massive, and can not only be measured in financial terms.
“Obviously the cost to the various education authorities has been huge, but the impact these thefts had on the school children must also be acknowledged.
“Many of those children had irreplaceable school work saved on these devices, and that is now lost forever thanks to these men.
“Their crimes affected a huge number of children across the North West, and this gang are fully deserving of the substantial custodial sentences handed out by the judge today.”
A Bolton Council spokesman said: “Incidents such as these can have a major impact on children’s education in the borough. To be burgled in this way not only has a demoralising effect on teachers and staff at the school, but it’s also upsetting for the pupils.”
A spokesperson from Peel Hall Primary School (Salford) said: “We were devastated at the time of the incident to find that valuable equipment had been stolen by heartless thieves. However we made sure our pupils did not suffer and replaced the items as quickly as possible.”
Main photo: Samuel Grimes, Benjamin Grimes, Mark Rhodes and Christopher Moore
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