A man who broke into people’s homes in the middle of the day and then sold their belongings for cash has been sentenced to seven years and eight months in prison.
Martin Fox, 49, of no fixed address, targeted properties in the Worksop and Grantham areas, all in September. In many cases, windows were smashed and high-value items stolen and pawned in shops.
This is the latest positive result in our Beating Burglary Together campaign, and we want to tell you how we helped secure his conviction.
Fox’s crime spree was brought to an end on 25 September, thanks to the quick response of detectives in our Criminal Investigation Department (CID) and local knowledge of the Grantham Neighbourhood Policing Team (NPT).
We had received a report of a burglary at a house in Barrowby Road, Grantham, earlier that day, where a rear lounge window had been smashed and jewellery stolen. The resident was able to provide us with CCTV, which showed a man walking around the outside of the property.
Detectives investigating the case – believing this may be linked to an emerging series – quickly viewed the footage, and Fox was recognised by the investigating team. By this stage, Fox was already circulated as wanted for arrest. A local NPT officer on patrol then saw Fox entering a house in Dysart Road in the early afternoon wearing the same clothes as the person on the CCTV footage. He was found in the possession of jewellery later confirmed to have been stolen from the house in Barrowby Road. He was arrested and recalled to prison for breaching his licence relating to another matter.
Before this happened, officers had already been building a picture of the man responsible for a number of other burglaries on 16 September, 19 September, and 21 September.
Officers linked Fox to those incidents through forensic examinations and digital investigations which included phone work, and intelligence from the road network to trace his movements. Our detectives also took multiple witness statements, while our crime analysts help establish patterns and linked factors, and patrol officers, neighbourhood teams and detectives carried out searches at multiple properties and house-to-house enquiries.
We also views hours upon hours of CCTV footage from street camera, doorbell camera and other CCTV systems, and made enquiries with local jewellers and pawn brokers, which were really helpful and provided some key evidence along with some of the jewellery back.
He was soon to be charged with all of those burglaries through officers piecing together the case.
The first case Lincolnshire officers had begun investigating was a burglary at a home in Village Street in Bridge End on 16 September, where jewellery had been stolen. Intelligence, including from some victims of his crimes, led to a jewellery shop which had bought goods from a man matching Fox’s description – these goods were later identified was belonging to the owner at the Village Street home. Footage taken from the shop showed a man selling the goods, who was subsequently identified as Fox.
Just a few days later on 19 September, the home of a man in his 80s in High Street, Little Bytham, was targeted. He had popped out for two hours and returned to find a rear window smashed, and his TV, two rings, a pocket watch, and an electronic tablet – among other items – stolen. Detectives tracked down CCTV footage which showed a man – later found to be Fox – outside the property. Working off previous intelligence, officers attended a pawn-brokers and found that two rings had been sold by Fox, who had provided his name and ID to make the sale. The rings were seized by officers and confirmed to have been taken from the High Street house.
Then, on 21 September there was a report of a burglary at a home in High Street, Castle Bytham, where again a window was smashed, and an iPad, jewellery and a navy crocodile-effect Radley handbag were stolen, the latter of which was later recovered at a shop in Grantham. Fox was seen on CCTV selling it.
Following his arrest on 25 September, investigators linked him to three incidents reported in the Worksop area which took place on 6 September and were being investigated by Nottinghamshire Police. One was an attempted burglary at a property in Chesterfield Road, Darfoulds, Worksop, another was a burglary with intent to steal at another property in Darfoulds, and the third was a burglary at a property off Potter Street in Darfoulds. In the Potter Street incident, Fox stole jewellery and watches, a bank card, and bike. The total value of the goods was valued at around £8.000.
He had been captured on CCTV during those incidents, and when he was arrested on 25 September, he was wearing the same clothes.
Once we had the full picture, Fox was charged. The next step was compiling a case file for the Crown Prosecution (CPS) to then bring the case to a successful conclusion at court.
He pleaded guilty to charges of burglary with intent to steal, attempted burglary, and burglary for the offences in the Worksop area on 6 September; he pleaded guilty to charges of burglary in relation to the Bridge End, Little Bytham, and Barrowby Road incidents; and he was initially charged with burglary for the offence on 21 September at Castle Bytham, which he pleaded not guilty to, but accepted a different charge of handling stolen goods.
In total he was sentenced to seven years and eight months in prison following a hearing at Lincoln Crown Court on 18 March.
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