Two men have been jailed following a crime spree which targeted passengers’ luggage on the East Coast Mainline.

William Beard, 30, and Paul Charles Rayner, 35, both described as “prolific” thieves, were jailed at Newcastle Crown Court for 12 months each and given five year-long ASBOs.

The orders mean they cannot enter Berwick Upon Tweed, Alnmouth, Morpeth, Newcastle, Durham, Darlington and York stations and are also barred from traveling on any trains between Berwick and York.

The pair’s near month-long crime spree, between May 24 and June 20 this year, resulted in the theft of dozens of items from passengers.

These included a suitcase taken from a service between Newcastle and Edinburgh which had inside it a silk photo album containing a couple’s wedding pictures. The case was later recovered, having been abandoned in a coal yard, although the irreplaceable album had been ruined.

The same day both men targeted another service between the two cities and stole a Swedish exchange student’s bag containing all of her clothes and money.

In another incident they stole a suitcase containing a laptop from a train which was then recovered from a garden, although the laptop was missing.

Beard and Rayner, of Hartlington Terrace, South Shields, were captured on CCTV committing the thefts while some of the items they had stolen were found at their home address following a search by police.

They pleaded guilty to three counts of theft and four counts of theft respectively.

Inspector Bob Moody, of British Transport Police, said: "Beard and Rayner targeted trains in the North-East to undertake a crime spree.

"Both men quickly became key targets for us and a lot of work was done to track them down and bring them to justice.”

Transport police recently launched Operation Magnum, a long term initiative aimed at helping the public not to fall victim to thieves.