Gloucestershire: Men jailed after series of burglaries

The court heard Eric Pearce, left, and Matthew Jones were "remorseful" for their crimes

Two men who carried out multiple burglaries and two ram raids have each been jailed for more than seven years.

Matthew Jones, 26, and Eric Pearce, 25, from Cheltenham, carried out the offences in Gloucestershire between September and November 2021.

The pair filmed themselves with some stolen items, and police were able to recover the footage.

They were jailed after pleading guilty to two counts each of conspiracy to commit burglaries.

Gloucester Crown Court was told their crimes involved the theft of 17 cars, and the total damage caused by their raids was estimated at around £450,000.

"An unrelated arrest of Mr Pearce lead to seizure of his phone, and search of its contents revealed critical evidence that linked them to the series of burglaries," said Det Insp Dave Shore-Nye, from Gloucestershire Police.

"Using location data we were able to plot them at every single one of the 28 offences that made up this conspiracy."

The pair filmed themselves posing with stolen items

Between mid-September and their arrest on 9 November, the pair carried out 26 burglaries, including breaking into homes, stealing car keys and driving them away.

One night in October they used stolen cars to ram-raid the Midcounties Co-operative in Bishops Cleeve, causing £18,000 worth of damage.

After failing to break the tills open they then drove to Cheltenham and ram-raided a café at the railway station.

The pair commited crimes across Gloucester, Cheltenham, Bishops Cleeve and Winchcombe

Among the victims of their crime spree was a widow, who lost sentimental items that were in her handbag when her BMW was stolen from a holiday home in Winchcombe.

"I felt completely violated, everything I had was gone. Some of the personal items were stolen were so dear to me, it was heart-breaking," said the woman, who wanted to remain anonymous.

The police found multiple incriminating videos on the pairs' phones which were shown in court, one showing them posing with an air rifle they'd taken from a gun safe.

'Based on greed'

The defence argued the crimes were committed to pay off debts and that both men were remorseful.

However, Judge Ian Lawrie QC said he wasn't convinced, and that the offences were "well-organised" and were "based on greed not pressure".

Each man was sentenced for seven years and six months for the domestic burglaries, and four years and six months for the commercial burglaries.

The judge ordered each count to be served concurrently, resulting in a total of seven years and six months imprisonment.