Two men have today (Feb 26) been jailed at Carlisle Crown Court after stealing thousands of pounds worth of mobiles from two CEX stores in Cumbria.
Liam Brogden, 40, of Dawson Mount, Bradford was sentenced to three-and-a-half years in prison for two counts of burglary.
Stewart Walton, 43, of Percy Street, Keighley was sentenced to five years in prison for two counts of burglary.
The court heard in the early hours of 23 July 2024, two men later identified as Brogden and Walton forced entry to the CEX store on Scotch Street, Carlisle by smashing the window. The men entered the store taking approximately £30,000 worth of mobile phones leaving the scene on electric bikes via Scotch Street.
Brogden and Walton were found to have travelled to Carlisle from Bradford in a Fiat Sucdo van on cloned plates. Both left Carlisle in the same vehicle hours after the burglary.
Three days later in the early hours of 26 July 2024, Brogden and Walton targeted the CEX store on Pow Street, Workington before stealing a further estimated £30,000 worth of mobile phones. Both men left the scene with bags labelled laundry on electric bikes returning to the same Fiat Scudo van on different cloned plates.
Detectives used the Briefcam System which is an object-focused analytical capability which allows officers to search tens or even hundreds of hours of CCTV footage in a fraction of the time it would have taken a police officer.
The system was used to search CCTV in Carlisle and Workington for distinctive clothing Brogden and Walton were wearing, specifically a distinctive cap worn by Brogden.
This allowed officers to see their movements in Workington town centre before the burglary, and track their movements into two local business, who were able to provide CCTV footage, from which the pair were identified.
Brogden and Walton were caught on CCTV purchasing two bags labelled laundry used in the burglary.
The system was also used to capture their movements in Carlisle and showed them wearing the same distinctive clothing as in Workington.
Police Constable Ryan Thwaite of Cumberland CID investigating the case said “Brogden and Stewart scoped out the stores spending time in the areas before committing the offence in the early hours.
“In an attempt to avoid police, they left both burglaries on electric bikes before getting into the Fiat Sucdo with cloned plates.
“However, CCTV footage from the burglary matched that worn by Brogden and Stewart whilst wandering the town centre.
“This was a planned attempt to target stores in Cumbria, we hope this acts as a warning to those intent on travelling to Cumbria to commit crime that we will investigate and work with our neighbouring force to put them before the courts to face prosecution.”