A bungling gang of burglars have started prison sentences after a failed conspiracy to target a Poundland store.
Barry Nicholson and Shaun Whittaker travelled to Scotland in October 2019, stole a Ford Transit van and drove it back to County Durham. Days later, Ryan Arthur Sutton and Paul Anthony Glynn stole a Manitou telehandler vehicle from a Coundon industrial estate and that night, all four attempted to ramraid the Poundland store in Bishop Auckland. The defendants tried to steal the store’s safe by ramraiding the building but were spooked by the alarms and abandoned the vehicles at the scene with the safe still attached to the telehandler. An investigation was launched and Glynn’s DNA was found on the ignition of the telehandler.
Glynn, 53, of Langley Park, and 36-year-old Whittaker and 29-year-old Sutton, of Bishop Auckland, pleaded guilty whilst Nicholson, of Bishop Auckland, was found guilty following a trial. The four were sentenced at Durham Crown Court on June 23. Nicholson, 40, received four-and-a-half years in prison. Whittaker was handed a three-year prison sentence. Sutton was sentenced to 27 months in prison and Glynn, 18 months which will be served consecutively following his conviction for firearms offences earlier this year which resulted in a 19-year prison sentence. This type of activity will continue under the banner of Operation Sentinel- a partnership initiative targeting serious and organised crime across the region.
Detective Inspector Amanda Howe, said: “This was understandably a shocking incident for the residents of Bishop Auckland and it has been a lengthy investigation. I’d like to thank the staff whose diligent work and tenacious efforts brought about the charges to remove these criminals from our streets.”
Bishop Auckland's local community newspaper.
