TWO burglars have admitted a £40,000 jewellery burglary at an auction house and now face immediate jail sentences. 

City men Nicholas Dutfield, 52, of Happy Land West, Worcester and Alan Dale, 51, of Belmont Street, Worcester admitted the burglary at Merebrook Industrial Estate in Welland when they appeared at Worcester Crown Court today (Thursday).

Worcester News: GUILTY: Nicholas Dutfield GUILTY: Nicholas Dutfield (Image: West Mercia Police)

Members of the Neighbourhood Crime Fighting Team, recently established to tackle the crimes that matter most to the community, carried out the arrests.

Access to the property was gained by forced entry into a back window before the items were taken from a cabinet in the auction house.

Worcester News: GUILTY: Alan Dale carried out the burglary in Welland GUILTY: Alan Dale carried out the burglary in Welland (Image: West Mercia Police)

Items reported missing include watches, pocket watches, rings, bracelets, medals and coins.

West Mercia Police last month launched the first of its new Neighbourhood Crime Fighting Teams (NCFTs), with dedicated officers on the ground to tackle the crimes that are a priority to the public.

Funded by Police and Crime Commissioner John Campion delivering on calls for officers to be more visible and accessible in communities, the teams are 'fast-responding high visibility units who aim to tackle the offences with the highest causes of harm to the public, deploying a rapid serious crime response'.

READ MORE: Burglary suspects due in court for Welland jewellery raid

READ MORE: Drug addict burglar raided Worcester church

Both men are due to be sentenced in November. 

We reported in November 2021 how career burglar Dutfield stole a Worcester hospital porter's bike, attempted to raid a city nursery and was so desperate to escape police he jumped out of a window in the city's All Saints Road.

Dutfield, who has what the judge called an 'appalling record', even tried to break into a Worcester nursery but was thwarted by security features and ultimately detained thanks to an observant off-duty officer who saw him stealing a sandwich at Aldi.

He admitted burglaries at two Worcester gyms, stealing a push bike from a locked shed at Worcestershire Royal Hospital in Worcester and even stealing items from a city Aldi store before he was caught and arrested on October 11, 2021. This resulted in Dutfield being jailed for 23 months at Worcester Crown Court.

Dutfield also raided Freedom Church in Lowesmoor, Worcester, on November 23, 2019 when he used a tool to break in through the fire doors.

We reported in 2019 how drug addict Alan Dale had carried out more than 40 burglaries including in Worcester and Evesham during a criminal career which began in 1987.

He had then spent twice as long in prison as he has on the outside as concerns were raised by a Worcester judge that he had become 'institutionalised' because of his long incarceration.