Three men who have committed more than 100 burglary offences have been sentenced to a total of 24 years imprisonment for their parts in a large scale conspiracy to burgle at Swindon Crown Court today.

Joseph William Butler, 25 from Willows Caravan Site, Sandhurst, Gloucester and David Wayne Royles, 53 of Sandhurst Lane, Gloucester received seven years custodial sentences, while Jesse Gregory, 50, of School Hill, Brinkworth was sentenced to 10 years. 

The gang had worked together on 120 burglary offences at commercial properties spanning five police force areas (Wiltshire, Gloucestershire, Thames Valley, Devon & Cornwall and West Mercia).

They had caused an estimated £500,000 of damage in the commission of the offences and stole around £250,000 in cash.

Salisbury Priority Crime Team took ownership of the case as the majority of the offences took place in Wiltshire to get justice for more than a hundred victims.

DS Nigel Porter said: ‘The success of this operation is down to the expertise of the team and effective collaboration with the other forces. This joint effort in close partnership with the Crown Prosecution Service has enabled us to secure these convictions and get justice for the many victims.’

On May 28, 2015, a large team of officers from Wiltshire, Gloucestershire and Thames Valley Police carried out raids on a number of addresses in Wiltshire and Gloucestershire and arrested the men.

Butler, Gregory and Royles targeted commercial properties in isolated rural areas such as garden centres, golf clubs and service stations during the night and used Subaru 4x4’s to approach the targets off road.

This particular vehicle use became a major factor in the conspiracy as Subaru vehicles can be seen in the majority of CCTV footage gathered by the detectives and were often described by witnesses at the scene.

The gang used varying amounts of force to enter the properties and in one case used their vehicle to ram into a building, removing an entire exterior wall.

Officers believed that Gregory and Butler attempted to cover their tracks by using 17 different mobile phones between them during their offending period which detectives painstakingly scrutinised to pin point their usage to the location of the crime scene. 

DC Jem Horner said: “These men caused a colossal amount of damage to businesses, apart from around half a million in damage to property and £250,000 in cash stolen, the additional financial implications, inconvenience and distress and have had a far higher toll on the victims.

"They left behind a trail of destruction, which in this case added to the pattern and led to their capture and an end to their crime spree.”

The men who had admitted their part in the conspiracy at earlier hearings, were given shorter sentences for time already served.