An Albanian-led gang has admitted targeting luxury properties in English villages where many football stars live, stealing cash and valuables worth more than £1m.
The thieves posed with bundles of cash, draped themselves in expensive watches and even took pictures of themselves escaping with a safe during one raid in which a sledgehammer was used. Police also found images of scales topped with gold jewellery and wads of banknotes. Luxury handbags were also stolen.
The five Albanian men and one British woman pleaded guilty to their roles during hearings at Chester Crown Court.
The woman, Jade Tubb, was in a relationship with one member of the gang, Endrit Nikolli, and the pair exchanged letters comparing themselves to notorious outlaws Bonnie and Clyde.
They used ladders to break into mansions through windows and balconies, before ransacking properties across the UK, including Prestbury, Weston and Willaston − all in Cheshire – where several Premier League footballers live.
In total the gang were blamed for 44 late-night burglaries, in which they focused on wealthy victims, setting themselves weekly targets to reach.
They were caught after an almost year-long investigation by police, which began after a series of burglaries in Cheshire. They were able to link the robberies with others in Derbyshire, Nottinghamshire and Staffordshire using DNA and footprints left at crime scenes. They were then able to trace the cars used in the raids, using number plate recognition.
Police carried out raids and found mobile phones with hundreds of images of the stolen items, as well as messages containing links to Google maps that matched the sites of the burglaries.
Nikolli, 27, Kristian Gropcaj, 30, George Lleshaj, 31, Krisjian Dedndreaj, 28, and Sidorjan Lleshi, 26, all pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit burglary and conspiracy to possess criminal property and have been remanded in custody. Tubb, 33, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to possess criminal property and was given bail.
Detective Sergeant Laura Fox, of Macclesfield Proactive CID said the organised crime gang had been responsible for at least 44 high value burglaries across the UK.
“All of the incidents were carefully orchestrated, with the gang researching their targets before committing their crimes, even expanding their crime spree across multiple forces in an effort to go undetected," she said.
“The gang specifically targeted wealthy victims, with the aim of stealing as much high value property as possible. Between them, they even set weekly targets for the amount of gold that they wanted to steal."
The Albanian members were responsible for conducting the burglaries, while Tubb was happy to spend their ill-gotten gains, she added.
“During the searches, we recovered letters between Nikolli and Tubb, in which the pair described themselves as ‘Bonnie and Clyde’, in reference to how they were working together to conduct the burglaries," Ms Fox said.
“Throughout our investigation it has been clear that the gang had absolutely no regard for the impact that their offences would have on the victims. Instead they regularly gloated about their crimes and shared images of ill-gotten gains.”
