A burglary gang who flew in and out of the UK to rob at five upmarket homes in a month and returned home to Poland for Christmas in the midst of their crime spree have been jailed.
The four ‘well-organised and forensically aware’ Polish nationals communicated over walkie-talkies to avoid being tracked by mobile phone signals.
They also spied on their victims using powerful telescopes so they could time the raids for when they were not home.
Przemyzlaw Zblewski was seen smirking in his mugshot after police arrested him and three other members of his gang.
The 37-year-old flew into the country twice with Kyzysztof Osowski, 36, and Slawomir Winiecki, 49, to carry out the break-ins.
Przemyzlaw Zblewski, 37, (pictured) was seen smirking in his mugshot after police arrested him and four other members of his gang after the burglars flew in and out of the UK to carry out raids on upmarket homes across Hertfordshire and Bedfordshire
Another gang member, Michal Barlowski, 44, rented a home in Luton (pictured) and provided the burglars with ‘local knowledge’
A fourth gang member, Michal Barlowski, 44, rented a home in Luton and provided them with ‘local knowledge’.
They targeted home across Hertfordshire and Bedfordshire, seizing large amounts of cash, jewellery, watches, clocks, designer goods and expensive cars in the raids.
Five burglaries were carried out in the space of a month before they were caught after a victim traced them using a tracker app on a stolen iPad.
The gang knew the device could be used to trace their whereabouts but wrongly thought covering it with foil would block any signal.
Three of the criminals had previous convictions in their home country for offences including theft, burglary and benefit fraud.
Jailing them for a total of 12 years and three months at Luton Crown Court, Judge Richard Foster said: ‘It has been said an Englishman’s home is his castle and the courts are here to protect those homes from people like you.’
They will be deported back to Poland after they have served their sentences.
Kyzysztof Osowski, 36, (right) and Slawomir Winiecki, 49, (left) flew into the UK twice to carry out the break ins, flying home again to Poland in time for Christmas
Outlining the evidence against the gang, prosecutor Oliver Doherty said: ‘This is a case about a well-organised agreement to burgle homes of well-off residents all living at substantial addresses around Hertfordshire and Bedfordshire.’
Zblewski and Osowski flew into Luton Airport from Gdansk on November 29 and returned home three days later, having carried out a suspected ‘reconnaissance’ mission.
They returned on December 11 with Winiecki and broke into the first house, a large detached property in the village of Lilley, Hertfordshire, three days later.
A five-bedroom detached house in Preston, also in Hertfordshire, was then targeted and the trio flew home on December 23 for the festive period.
The haul from both included jewellery, a carriage clock and expensive watches.
They returned to Luton on January 8 and committed three more burglaries between January 11 and 13.
The first was at a ten-bedroom detached country house set in 22 acres in the village of Shillington, Bedfordshire.
They made off with a safe containing £20,000, a Land Rover Evoke, a silver jewellery box, wedding rings and a £14,000 diamond engagement ring, three Rolex watches and the iPad that would lead to their capture.
The gang used rented properties to store the stolen goods from the raids on homes across the South East
Hours later they stole a watch and necklace from a large country home in Little Gaddesden, near Berkhamsted in Hertfordshire.
From another property in the same village they took a safe, a clock, watch, jewellery and a Jaguar car.
But the spree ended when the Shillington home owner checked his ‘Find My iPad’ app and located it at an address in Luton.
Details were passed to police who watched Zblewski, Winiecki and Osowski leave the house in a Vauxhall Zafira and go to Barlowski’s home nearby.
All four were stopped in a Mercedes car shortly afterwards and searches of the vehicles and rented homes revealed much of the stolen property and a burglary kit that included balaclavas and gloves.
All of the raids were carried out when the occupants were not at home.
Zblewski and Osowski were each jailed for four years, while Winiecki received three years and nine months. All admitted conspiracy to commit burglary.
Barlowski was jailed for six months after pleading guilty to handling stolen goods. He will be deported immediately as time he had already served his time on remand.