The man, who smashed and raided three Co-op shops in the space of a month, has been handed a 30-month prison sentence at Reading Crown Court on Tuesday (1).
According to local reports, Liam Brown of Hemming Way smashed the windows of convenience stores in Abingdon, Farnborough and Pangbourne and stole huge amounts in three incidents of burglary in August and September 2021.
He was working with two accomplices as he raided the stores of thousands of pounds worth of cigarettes before the group was eventually caught.
The first burglary occurred on August 4, 2021, when Brown and two others raided the Co-op in Abingdon. Smashing the store’s window to gain entry, Brown and his accomplice were accused of stealing £1,700 of cigarettes and causing £1,900 of damage to the shopfront while he Co-op lost £4,000 in trade due to its ensuing closure.
On August 27, 2021, the same group targeted a Co-op in Farnborough where they again smashed open the store’s window with a drain cover and stole £9,000 worth of goods including alcohol. £790 in cash was also taken from the store’s cash register.
In the third incident that happened on Sept 2, the trio smashed the windows of the store and stole £5,000 worth of cigarettes.
Police arrested Brown after a blood stain at the crime site matched his DNA. He had previous convictions for criminal damage, possession with intent to supply class A drugs, and assault occasioning actual bodily harm, for which he was jailed in 2017, reports said.
“Co-op shops serve their communities in ways other shops don’t,” local reports quoted Judge Dugdale as saying.
“They tend to serve people who can’t get out to other shops. When those shops were burgled they had to shut down.”
