17/03/2017 Midlands Today


17/03/2017

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A gang of men who stole more than ?3 million-worth

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of jewellery from shops right across Britain have today been

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The men were recruited for their fitness.

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They cycled to raids to avoid their cars being picked up

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on number plate recognition systems and left traps so that the police

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couldn't follow them.Today that all came to an end.

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A high-end jewellers in Stoke-on-Trent, a burglary

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Just one carried out by a highly organised gang working together.

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Seven men were part of a group, all from Romania, which carried out

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11 burglaries at jewellers across the country.

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Burglaries which netted the gang more than ?3 million.

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That level of criminality, how highly organised,

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the military precision they had, they actually executed,

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the sophistication and planning around it, clearly not accepted

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It was in March of last year in the early hours of the morning

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that the gang set their sights on Beaverbrooks, at the Pottery

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In what became their signature, they started a fire in the entrance

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of the centre before smashing their way into the

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Stealing watches and rings worth ?400,000.

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The gang members were recruited on the basis that they were young

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and fit, spending less than two minutes in each shop,

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making their getaway on bicycles to avoid automatic

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Burglaries were carried out in numerous towns and cities.

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Stratford-upon-Avon, Oxford, Milton Keynes

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Sentencing Judge Glenn said the conspiracy was wide-ranging

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and involving a significant number of individuals, some of whom have

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The offences, he said, involved planning and organisation

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Judge Glenn also recommended the men be deported, saying, frankly,

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this country has more than enough criminals of its own.

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A final member of the gang will be sentenced at the end of the month.

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A bank worker was held hostage in what looked like an armed raid

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Her colleagues hid in a back room, as police and negotiators

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Whilst the incident took place in a NatWest branch,

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it doesn't appear to have been an attempted robbery.

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The police were very reassuring which was good

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and they kept everybody where they needed to be

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But obviously we had the shutters down, that was the best

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They were obviously making sure it was safe over there

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but there were various armed vehicles brought

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Seven more suspected boy racers have been arrested during raids

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West Midlands Police are still trying to trace the 200

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or so bikers who took to the streets on scramblers, mini motos and quad

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bikes for a mass rideout in November last year.

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Doctors had to pause operations at the George Eliot Hospital

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in Warwickshire today because of a power cut.

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The lights went out in A, radiology and on a number

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Patients being driven to the hospital by ambulance were

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Extending the tram service into the heart of Birmingham's

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shopping centre has increased the numbers using it by a third.

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Following its expansion, it now runs from Wolverhampton

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It's been another day of celebration for the Irish on St Patrick's Day

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The Gold Cup was won by Sizing John, which is trained in Ireland,

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to the delight of the thousands of fans who've travelled

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But for the police their attention's been drawn

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to illegal ticket touts operating in the town.

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There've been complaints that they're not only

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charging over the odds, but some tickets are fakes.

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For the first time, people suspected of ticket touting in Cheltenham

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are being targeted by police and licensing teams.

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He did not have a certificate which is obviously an offence

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and as a result, we've seized one ticket from him.

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We've seized that as the police and we've passed his details

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on to the borough council to make a decision, whether he's prosecuted.

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That ticket's for you, is it? Yes, I just bought it.

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The teams say, if you haven't got a ticket for the races,

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getting one on the street isn't a problem.

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Tickets! Anyone want tickets?

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We saw plenty of people offering tickets and selling,

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something which isn't illegal, but you do need a licence.

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If you want to sell anything on the street, whether that be

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tickets or hot foos or anything, you need a street trading licence.

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And from the work we've done this week, we know that the majority

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of the touts out there don't have a street trading licence

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or a pedlar's certificate from their police authority to sell,

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so the majority of them are selling illegally.

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This man near the racecourse admitted selling tickets

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If you fail to have a pedlar's certificate,

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Officials at the racecourse say complaints about ticket touts

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are high on the list and the problem is often overpriced

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and some fake tickets, the time has come to do

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We want our racegoers to come here and have an enjoyable time,

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not to be pestered, have the nuisance and sometimes pretty

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Not surprisingly, nobody suspected of touting that we spoke to wanted

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Although one man did tell me he was upset that his honest

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But others were legitimate, like this man who had

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But as the crackdown has gone on this week,

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many of those suspected of being ticket touts

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They've adapted, they've seen us out on the streets,

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we've spoken to them, given them the warnings

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they require and they've had information and paperwork.

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But they are still out there and no doubt they are still selling.

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This year was a soft approach - a warning to the touts -

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but the racecourse says, eventually, they want to try

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Football, and in League One Shrewsbury Town have lost

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That's almost all from the late team.

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The weather's next with Rebecca Wood.

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Have a great weekend, from me goodnight.

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It was a day where we saw plenty of cloud.

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We started off on a brighter note but steadily we saw that cloud

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thickening and at times we did get some rain from it.

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As we had through this weekend more of the same to come I'm afraid.

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We are seeing this rain just across the

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northern and western parts of the region,

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largely cloudy overnight tonight and it is breezy.

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The cloud, the rain and the wind all holding

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Lows of between eight and nine Celsius.

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It is quite a murky startto the day tomorrow.

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We've got this waving weather front which is going to continue to push

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rain down across us as we had through the weekend.

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It will clear away at times but it is going to be a wet start

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for the north and west of the region again.

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Tomorrow, some brighter spells particularly further east but

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we will see that rain filtering in by the end of the day.

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More in the national forecast for you.

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I will leave you with an outlook for the next couple of days.

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it is rather breezy. Now for the national outlook.

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It was quite a wet day across many northern and western parts of the

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UK. This was the view in Lancashire not so long ago. For the weekend we

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are looking to see further rain, all coming from the west, so the further

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east you are, it should be drier. It will be quite a windy weekend for

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all parts. The radar from earlier today showing quite a bit of rain

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across the North and west.

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