A man has been jailed for almost five years after smashing patio doors and stealing thousands from two homes in Wilmslow. Lee Jones, 46, burgled the two properties in two days on Tuesday April 25 and Wednesday April 26 this year.
Jones, of Waterside, Marple, was caught on a Ring doorbell as he targeted the first property shortly before 4pm. Footage showed Jones, wearing a mask, woolly hat, dark jacket, dark trousers, and trainers, carrying a brick through the back garden.
He moves off camera before a loud smash is heard. Jones ransacked the house in around two minutes, making off with a jewellery box through the rear patio door.
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Jones was then caught on CCTV the next day as he targeted a property in the Wilmslow Park area. Jones was wearing the same clothes aside from a different wooly hat.
Residents of the property returned home around 4.15pm to find a door had been smashed. Jones had this time stolen a number of items worth thousands of pounds.
Jones returned to Stockport and attempted to use a bank card stolen from the address. The transactions were unsuccessful, but Jones managed to use a second bank card fraudulently on May 12, taking hundreds from the account.
Cheshire Police and Greater Manchester Police raided an address in Stockport where Jones was arrested. Clothing matching the description of the clothing caught in CCTV footage of the burglaries was seized.
Jones appeared at Chester Crown Court on Friday 8 September after previously pleading guilty to two counts of burglary and three counts of fraud by false representation. He was sentenced to more than four years and 11 months.
Following the sentencing, PC Ben Dickinson of Eastern CID said: “While there is a financial impact of burglary, there is also an emotional impact to consider. Everyone deserves the right to feel safe in their own homes.
“Thankfully, we were able to locate and arrest Jones and he is now being held accountable for his actions. I hope that his conviction provides reassurance to residents in the Wilmslow area and serves as a reminder that we will do everything we can to stop people who try to commit crimes in Cheshire.”
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