Tip-off sinks burglary gang's 'audacious plan'

Simon Upton (left) collected Mark Higgins (right) while the latter was fleeing from police

Six men have been sentenced after a tip-off led police to a stolen van containing counterfeit cigarettes worth £250,000.

Police were called to an address in Knutsford, Cheshire, after a concerned resident reported a suspicious man in a white Citroen Relay van on 16 August 2024.

When officers arrived on Devis Way they spotted a man running away, and although he managed to escape, dashcam footage allowed police to identify him as Mark Higgins, 23.

Along with four other, Higgins was jailed for 27 months at Chester Crown Court after admitting conspiracies to commit burglary and steal a motor vehicle. A sixth gang member was sentenced to two years, suspended for 18 months.

Cheshire Police said officers later found the van containing the cigarettes, and realised it had been stolen the previous day during a burglary on the outskirts of Chester.

A balaclava-clad gang had forced their way into a building with crowbars and threatened the occupants.

Officers found counterfeit cigarettes worth £250,000 in the stolen van

Analysis of CCTV and number-plate recognition cameras revealed that one of the gang members, 38-year-old Simon Upton, had scoped out the van.

He was recorded as having travelled back to the Nottingham area - where the gang was based - the day before the burglary.

Evidence recovered by detectives also showed that, after fleeing officers in Knutsford, Higgins got in touch with Upton who returned to Cheshire to pick him up.

The pair then started to head back to Nottingham.

CCTV footage showing Higgins at a service station on that journey revealed he was wearing trainers that matched a footprint taken from the stolen van.

Christopher Cope (left) and Jobe Cope were also involved

CCTV footage and mobile phone analysis linked all six offenders to the burglary.

They were arrested in raids across the East Midlands.

As well as Nottingham men Upton, from Eltham Drive, and Higgins, of Cherhill Close, three others were jailed.

They were:

• Mitchell Edge, 23, of Green Acre in Edwalton

• Christopher Cope, 24, of Rectory Close in Sutton Bonnington

• Jobe Cope, 29, of Great Hoggett Drive in Chilwell

Marley Beales, also of Cherhill Close, had his prison sentence suspended. He was ordered to carry out 250 hours of unpaid work.

Det Con Richard Connolley said the gang's "audacious plan" began to fall apart "thanks to a good Samaritan in Knutsford."