Tesco and Sainsbury's among 26 stores raided by burglary gang

The gang carried out a total of 26 burglaries, including one in Wiltshire, which saw businesses suffer losses and damage totalling almost £420,000.

Shortly before 1am on December 7, 2021, four men carrying tools broke into the Tesco Express on Calne Road in Lyneham after forcing entry via the front door.

Despite attempting and failing to open the cigarette counter, the group stole two cash boxes from behind the till and fled the scene.

Each box contained around £4,000 in cash.

The burglary was part of what police labelled a “large-scale conspiracy” spanning across six counties.

Bleu Alford (Image: Hampshire Police)

Four men, all from Southampton, were sentenced for their involvement in the conspiracy on Wednesday, August 2, after pleading guilty to conspiring to burgle at Southampton Crown Court.

Two of them are now facing time behind bars.

32-year-old Bleu Alford was sentenced to two years and eight months in prison, while 36-year-old Callum Robert Raymond Knox has been jailed for two years and four months.

Meanwhile Damian Lee Smith, 42, and Leroy Glen Dashwood, 32, were handed suspended sentences.

Smith was sentenced to 20 months imprisonment suspended for 18 months while Dashwood was slapped with two years suspended for 18 months.

The pair have also been ordered to complete rehabilitation courses and carry out unpaid work.

Callum Robert Raymond Knox (Image: Hampshire Police)

The court heard the group would travel in convoy to locations across Hampshire, Surrey, Dorset, Avon and Somerset, Sussex and Wiltshire.

Between October 2020 and December 2020, they would target businesses with high-value stock, often using hired or stolen vehicles with cloned plates.

This included supermarkets, such as Tesco, Sainsbury’s and the Co-Op, bicycle stores, phone shops and clothing stores.

Police investigations, involving officers from six constabularies, also recovered several stolen vehicles which were used to commit the offences.

Hampshire Police’s Detective Constable Paul Beasley, who led the investigation, said: “The ruling has brought to a close a difficult investigation which not only impacted residents and business owners in Hampshire and Isle of Wight – but across a number of neighbouring counties.

“The group simply believed that they were above the law and would not get caught. Greed got the better of them and justice has now been served with all nine men receiving sanctions as a result of their actions.”

Three other men had previously been sentenced for their part in the conspiracy during a hearing at Southampton Crown Court on Tuesday, June 27.