PROLIFIC burglars who failed to turn their lives around despite being given chance after chance have been jailed when a jewellery raid at an auctioneers proved the final straw.
Alan Dale and Nicholas Dutfield are now behind bars following the £40,000 burglary after both were sentenced to three years in prison at Worcester Crown Court yesterday (Thursday).
Dutfield, 52, of Happy Land West, Worcester and Dale, 51, of Belmont Street, Worcester admitted the burglary at Merebrook Industrial Estate in Welland when they appeared at the same court in September.
DS Kris Stevens of West Mercia Police said: "This was a particularly complex investigation which was dealt with swiftly and efficiently by detectives determined to bring the offenders to justice.
"It is a bittersweet result in many ways as both offenders were afforded opportunities to turn their lives around and move away from a life of crime, they made a conscious and calculated decision to break into this premises and take what was not theirs to take for financial gain.
"It is also very disappointing that the items stolen could not be recovered, unfortunately such items are moved on at such a rate it becomes extremely difficult to recover them before the criminals have moved them on for cash.
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"The evidence in this case was never clear cut and took a lot of time, skill and patience to piece the investigation together to such a degree that Mr Dale and Mr Dutfield were then compelled to provide early guilty pleas at court leading to their three year sentence."
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.
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