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13
Jun 2021
Burglars jailed for 23 years after targeting Harrogate district homes
A gang of four professional criminals have been jailed or a total of 23 years after travelling to Harrogate to break into two houses in 2019.
York Crown Court heard how the four Bradford men armed themselves with balaclavas, gloves and screwdrivers on May 10, 2019 before travelling to Harrogate.
Prosecutor Chloe Hudson told the court how Jordan Faulding 23, used a stolen car to drive Brandon Gaughan, Omar Khalid Powell, both 22, and 24-year-old Andrew Joseph Maguire.
The group broke into a house on Halton Gill Grove in Harrogate before targeting a second home in Ilton, near Masham.
Over £12,000 of jewellery was taken from the cottage in Ilton. The gang opened every drawer and cupboard and removed mattresses in search for valuables.
The Harrogate homeowner told police that his elderly mother came home to found their home in chaos. Hundreds of pounds in cash was taken along with a diamond necklace and Louis Vuitton bag.
The gang were caught after an off duty police officer reported a VW Golf driving erratically on the Ripon Road.
Another officer spotted the car on the A61 in Harrogate just after 3pm that day. The gang was finally stopped when police punctured the car’s tyres with a stinger forcing it to crash into a field near Otley.
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At court on Friday, Maguire, the eldest, pleaded guilty to the two burglaries. He received two years and ten months
Gaughan, the driver, pleaded guilty to the two burglaries and also to aggravated vehicle theft. He was on parole at the time of the burglary for a previous burglary carried out with Powell.
He was jailed for five years nine months and banned from driving for 5 years 10 months
Powell is currently serving a two year sentence for handling a stolen car last autumn. He was jailed for four years and four months.
Judge Sean Morris told three of the gang:
The fourth member of the gang, Jordan Faulding was sentenced at Bradford Crown Court and was handed a ten year and six month sentence.
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