A GANG of burglars targeted convenience stores in a series of “professional, wellplanned”

raids in rural villages, a Court heard.

Three men involved in the spate of night-time break-ins in Durham dales villages earlier this year, were yesterday sentenced to lengthy spells in jail.

Police last night welcomed the sentences on cousins Trevor and David Maughan and accomplice David Brett Quinn, whose combined crimes led to £13,443 worth of mainly tobacco and alcohol products being stolen.

It caused £5,500-worth of damage to the targeted outlets with an estimated loss of £3,500 in trade during temporary closures as repairs were carried out.

The spree of six raids in 11 days came to an end with their arrest following a chase with a police vehicle after they struck at a Co-op store in Stanhope, Weardale, in the early hours of March 13.

They were detained by a police dog team after being pinpointed by heat-seeking devices in a force helicopter, while attempting to hide in woodland after abandoning their getaway car, which had crashed into a wall.

Although they said nothing in interview, forensic evidence gathered from stolen goods, masks, gloves and other items found in two recovered getaway vehicles, as well as at the scenes of their crimes, proved conclusive.

It resulted in the trio pleading guilty to conspiracy to commit burglary, between January 28 and March 14, at the start of their trial at Durham Crown Court, on Wednesday.

The Maughans’ admissions were on the basis of involvement of all six raids in March, while Quinn’s guilty plea related to four of the offences.

Richard Bennett, prosecuting, said a Spar shop in Wolsingham and the post office in Woodland were both the subject of two raids, while another Spar premises, in Staindrop, plus the Stanhope Co-op also fell prey to the gang.

Barristers for the trio said in each case they became involved to “put food on their family’s plates”, at times of financial hardship after two of them lost jobs early this year.

Trevor Maughan, 26, of Melrose Drive, St Helen Auckland, and 32-year-old David Maughan, of Dickenson Road, West Auckland, were both jailed for four-and-a-half years. Quinn, 32, of Katrine Walk, West Auckland, was given a sentence of three years and nine months.