The burglars who stole £1m worth of goods after dressing like staff at the businesses they targeted

Two men from Greater Manchester who went on a £1m crime spree across the north west have been jailed. Burglars Christian Stokes and Colin Hughes hit ten businesses stealing laptops, televisions, mobile phones and cash.

CCTV footage showed that in a ruse to avoid raising suspicion the pair would wear outfits and overalls to blend in with those who worked at the premises they were targeting, before breaking into the businesses. At Chester Crown Court they were jailed for a total of seven years and six months after previously pleading guilty to ten counts of burglary other than a dwelling.

Stokes, 45, of Cranbrook Gardens, Ashton-Under-Lyne, was sentenced to three years in prison. Hughes, 45, of Lewis Drive, Heywood, was sentenced to four years and six months.

Their crime spree began on February 28th 2019 when they targeted Clairnet Ltd in Birchwood and stole a laptop and three televisions, valued at £3,500. Then on September 25th 2019, the pair targeted Virgin Care in Daresbury Park, where they caused damage and stole items to the amount of £31,500.

Their offending escalated massively between December 4th and December 5th 2019 when they broke into three businesses in two days. These included GEA Process Engineering, Millennium House and Firecroft Engineering, all located in Birchwood, from where they stole £16,744 worth of computer equipment and stock.

The pair continued to target businesses between March 2020 and October 2020. During their 2020 spree, they targeted Conveyor Works and Briggs and Forrester in Daresbury; Marshall House, 1st Direct Computer, PHX Training, Datatel Solutions in Preston; and Gorilla Glue in Chorley, stealing £994,966.34 worth of laptops, televisions, petty cash and mobile phones.

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