TWO distraction burglars from Bromsgrove, who pleaded guilty to 11 offences earlier this year, have been ordered to pay £7,500 by the courts.

Martin Jeffrey Bradley, aged 43, and Adrian Carl Sharp, aged 38, both from Alderley Road, Rock Hill, were ordered to hand over the proceeds of their criminal activity by a judge at Hereford Crown Court.

The order follows a financial investigation by West Mercia police's economic crime unit into the benefit the pair obtained from their crimes.

The court heard that Sharp benefited from his crimes by £15,405 and has realisable assets of £3,500 and that Bradley profited by £10,000 with £4,000 in realisable assets.

The pair must now find a total of £7,500 between them within six months or face extra time in prison. If they fail to meet the deadline set by the court, Sharp faces a further 57 days in prison at the end of his seven year sentence and Bradley must spend another 68 days behind bars when he has completed his five year sentence.

Pat Kelly, from the economic crime unit, said: "This is the first time we have used powers under the Criminal Justice Act to recover the proceeds of crime from distraction burglars, but it won't be the last.

"Using these and other powers available to us, we are sending a clear message to everyone that crime simply does not pay anymore."

He added: "Some of these recovered criminal funds will, in due course, be returned to West Mercia and reinvested to strengthen our capacity to investigate similar offences."

Bradley and Sharp both pleaded guilty to 11 distraction burglaries when they appeared at Hereford Crown Court in January. The offences were usually in semi-remote rural locations and often involving elderly members of the community.

Detective Inspector Graham Smith, who led the original five month investigation into the pair, said: "These men showed a total disregard for the people they targeted, cold heartedly distracting elderly and vulnerable people in their homes and stealing from them. They are professional burglars who made a living from preying on the community throughout Worcestershire."