Lymm man jailed for role in jewellery theft gang (From Warrington Guardian)

Lymm man jailed for role in jewellery theft gang

8:07am Monday 29th October 2012 in News

A 26-YEAR-OLD man from Lymm who was part of a gang who stole more than £1.8million worth of jewellery has been jailed.

Michael Stephen Bradbury, of Church View, Lymm, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit robbery and conspiracy to commit burglary along with five others after being caught out by Greater Manchester Police (GMP).

The gang would often arm themselves with weapons such as swords and crowbars while using stolen cars to target high street jewellers during busy trading hours.

Bradbury and the other men were brought down by Operation Exercise - bringing to an end a four month crime spree which included 12 separate offences of burglary and robbery.

The gang were sentence at Minshall Street Crown Court in Manchester on Wednesday and Bradbury was handed a sentence of three years and eight months.

Detective Inspector Chris Duffy, from the GMP Force Robbery Unit, said: "These men were involved in a plot stretching at least four months to steal cars which would then be used to target high street jewellers.

"What makes it worse is that they were prepared to use weapons to frighten and intimidate innocent shopworkers into getting their hands on the jewellery.

“These robberies also happened in full view of members of the public and thankfully no-one was injured although one elderly woman was threatened with a Samurai sword.”