Hemswell: Burglar is jailed for two years after he stole power tools worth £15,000 from former RAF Hemswell

Sean BrooksSean Brooks
Sean Brooks
A Gainsborough burglar who helped to steal power tools valued at £15,000 from a hangar at former RAF Hemswell has been jailed for two years.

Sean Brooks, 35, was part of a three man gang who escaped with the tools after cutting holes in the fence and using bolt croppers to break a lock of a hangar at the former RAF Hemswell.

RAF Hemswell was used by RAF Bomber Command for 20 years between 1937 and 1957.

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Lincoln Crown Court heard the tools were taken from a unit within hangar number four and taken to a car waiting nearby outside the perimeter fence.

Andrew Scott, prosecuting, said Brooks was linked to the break-in after his DNA was found on a pair of bolt croppers left behind at the scene.

Mr Scott told the court police later carried out a search at the property where Brooks was staying in Portland Terrace, Gainsborough, and recovered around a third of the missing power tools.

However over £10,000 worth of the equipment was not recovered from the property meaning the business owner had to pay two of his employees while not having the tools for them to work.

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The court heard Brooks was arrested after the same gang carried out a second raid two weeks later at Trent Port.

A shipping container belonging to DW Logistics was found to have been cut open and cabling worth £350 was about to be taken away.

An angle grinder was also found nearby.

Brooks and a second man were arrested at the scene.

Brooks was searched and found to be in possession of a stanley knife, gloves and hat.

During police interview Brooks denied taking part in the Hemswell burglary.

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Gordon Holt, mitigating, told the court Brooks moved to Scotland in 2013 and had stayed out of trouble until the end of his relationship meant he returned to his old associates in Gainsborough.

Mr Holt said Brooks began taking heroin again and returned to crime, going to Hemswell in a friend’s car.

The three men divided the power tools up afterwards.

Brooks, of Portland Terrace, Gainsborough, admitted a commercial burglary at Hemswell on Thursday 20th November and a charge of cable theft at Trent Port on Tuesday 2nd December.

Passing sentence Judge Michael Heath told him: “It is quite clear the burglary caused a great deal of upset for the hard working victim.”

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