Bicycling burglars in their 40s who pedalled off with haul have each committed more than 100 crimes
They made off with £2k worth of goods from a shop
Suzy Gibson
The hooded thieves parked their bikes in an alley near the shop (Image: Getty)
Two persistent crooks broke into a shop and escaped with their haul on bicycles.
Christopher Sills, 47, and Simon Bland, 41, smashed their way into SwopNSave, in Loughborough's Cattlemarket, in the early hours of Friday, November 23.
A member of the public alerted the police as the men made off with £2,000 worth of mobile phones and other items.
Leicester Crown Court was told the pair were with an unknown third male, all on bicycles and with their hoods up.
CCTV footage showed the burglars arriving at the scene and leaving their cycles in an alleyway, before burgling the store and then making off with bags of property, including computer tablets and PlayStation consoles.
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Lucky Thandi, prosecuting, said one of the CCTV controllers later spotted Sills on camera in the street, wearing the same hoodie and distinctive training shoes as one of the burglars, as he attended the Probation Service offices in Southfield Road.
It led to his arrest.
Officers then went to search his home in Waterside Close, Loughborough, where they found Bland, of no fixed address, watching television - with the stolen property still in the flat.
Both defendants, who were said to be heroin addicts, admitted committing the burglary.
The court was told that Sills has 116 previous offences, mainly for theft, on his record and Bland had accrued 110 similar crimes on his record.
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Sentencing, Judge Robert Brown said both had been given considerable help for drug taking in the past.
He said: "You're both men in your 40s and are both persistent offenders.
"It's acquisitive crime to get money to feed your habits.
"The pre-sentence reports indicate that if I was to make drug rehabilitation orders the expectation of the probation officer is you wouldn't co-operate and would break the orders.
"I'm told you want to change and that's encouraging - you will be able to access help on a voluntary basis when you're free."
Sills and Bland were each jailed for nine months.
Katya Saudek, mitigating for Sills, said: "He's realistic and treating this period in custody as a chance to get clean."
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Miss Saudek said he relapsed into drug taking and previously committed offences, mainly shoplifting, when he was homeless to keep a roof over his head.
She added: "He was drug free for four years and is disgusted with himself for letting it happen again."
Kelly Cyples, mitigating for Bland, said: "The pre-sentence report says he's not motivated at this time to get off drugs but he says that he is and has successfully been clean of drugs in the past.
"He's aware that because of his previous convictions the court will be considering immediate custody."
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