The Oxford burglars and robbers spending Christmas in jail

Here we round up some of the burglars and robbers who will be enjoying Christmas dinner behind bars.

‘No mastermind’

Andrew Hurtault’s ‘lack of joined up thinking, his lack of being a criminal mastermind’ was demonstrated by the fact he repeatedly returned to the scenes of earlier crimes, his lawyer said.

The 40-year-old stole £12,000-worth of electric bicycles from the Oxford shop he’d raided just two months earlier.

It was as a result of that first burglary in April that the owner of the Electric Transport Shop installed top-of-the-range security measures.

When he returned on June 5, Hurtault – the only one in his gang-of-three not wearing a face covering – was captured on the store’s crystal-clear CCTV.

He was also caught red-handed by builders when he returned to the renovation project in Crown Street, Cowley, where he’d earlier stolen up to £6,000-worth of tools, including a laser sight and drill.

CCTV from a pub across the road showed Hurtault filling up a shopping trolley with his stolen booty and walking away.

The builders arrived at the building site to find their tools missing. They went over the road to the pub to see if there was footage of the burglary - to be told by punters that the culprit had returned to the scene.

Jailing him for 27 months, Judge Ian Pringle QC told him: “You know what’s coming.”

READ MORE: Bungling burglar returned to the scenes of earlier crimes

Cricket pavilion burglar left stumped

Brazen burglar Raymond Starkings broke into a cricket pavilion during a match – and ended up getting chased around the field by the cricketers.

On July 24, he aroused the suspicions of a steward at Stanton Harcourt Cricket Club, where the village side was taking on Wolvercote. She alerted the players, who found that more than £200 had been stolen from wallets left in the changing room.

Around ‘eight to 10’ players confronted Starkings. “The defendant denied the theft and said the money he had in his hand was his. He then tried to run,” prosecutor Alexandra Bull told Oxford Crown Court. The players recovered £145.

Raymond Starkings.

A woman who had been with Starkings at the club tried to drive off in a Citroen Picasso. When she found the steward had shut the gates to the cricket field, she rammed the car into the gates until they gave way.

A month earlier, on June 17, he was caught on CCTV going into All Saint’s Church, Marcham, and stealing an iPad, its charger and some batteries.

He was on a deferred sentence at the time.

Jailing him for two years in the autumn, Judge Nigel Daly said: “When I deferred sentence I gave an indication about what was expected of him and looking at the deferred sentence report [from probation] I can see that the conclusion is that he has consistently evidenced a complete disregard for licence conditions and the requirements of the deferred sentence – with his actions being the opposite of what was asked of him.”

READ MORE: Burglar who was caught red-handed stealing from cricketers is finally jailed

Wheelie bin thief raided Cowley Road restaurant

Judge Michael Gledhill QC labelled John Bousfield’s record ‘appalling’ as he sent him down for 58 months.

The 24-year-old admitted breaking into homes, bars and a Cowley Road restaurant. He also asked for another burglary and the theft of a wheelie bin to be taken into consideration by the judge.

Jailing him for almost five years, Judge Gledhill said: “Nothing has worked and every attempt to help you has, if I can use the colloquialism, been thrown straight back in the face of the court

“24 years old and you have an appalling record. On any view it is absolutely dreadful.”

Bousfield’s lawyer had asked if the burglar could be put on a drug rehabilitation programme that would have kept him out of prison.

John Bousfield, who has been jailed for burglary Picture: TVP

The Oxford man had had a difficult childhood and was addicted to crack cocaine at 16 and heroin by 18, it was said. Since being remanded, the wheelie bin thief had got a job in prison helping to do the recycling.

In December last year, he was caught with a rucksack-full of items that had just been stolen from a house in Cowley Road, with a folding bicycle also taken in the break-in found nearby. Among the taken were a £180 Bose speaker, a PlayStation 4 and a passport. He admitted handling stolen goods.

In the same month, he attempted to break into another Oxford property and tried to steal a bicycle.

On April 14, he was caught red-handed carrying a pressure washer that had been stolen less than an hour earlier from the garage of a house in Cowley Road. One of the occupants of the house was in at the time.

Later that month, on April 19, he and a woman smashed their way into the James Street Tavern and Cowley Retreat bars, making off with bottles of alcohol.

He admitted breaching a 10 month suspended sentence imposed last year for house burglary, pleaded guilty to stealing alcohol from Tesco and asked for a break-in at the Nef Istanbul restaurant, Cowley Road, and the theft of a wheelie bin to be taken into consideration when he was sentenced.

READ MORE: Wheelie bin thief targeted bars and restaurants

Burglar cash netted

Jimmy Cash’s failure to walk the line earned him a 42 month sentence.

The 30-year-old was part of a gang of three men that broke into a Caversham home in August.

Jimmy Cash

But in a basis of plea he denied being involved in breaking into homes in Henley and Marlow on the same day.

He pleaded guilty to conspiracy to burgle, assault by beating and bilking £70-worth of fuel at a Texaco garage in Wokingham.

READ MORE: Burglar, 30, jailed for three-and-a-half years

Robbers got the 'wrong' house

Bungling robbers terrified a Blackbird Leys family when they smashed into their home armed with a shotgun.

Joseph Gunning and Farouk Abdul were part of the gang of masked thugs that broke into the house in the mistaken belief that it was a drugs den.

The four-bedroom house was, in fact, home to a mum and her four children – aged two, six, 11 and 23.

The mother and her eldest son told robbers they had no drugs in the house and there was nothing except a television and a PlayStation games console.

One of the robbers, armed with a knife, ushered another man – carrying what appeared to be a sawn-off shotgun – into the house.

Joseph Gunning and, right, Farouk Abdul Picture: THAMES VALLEY POLICE

The gunman pointed the weapon directly at the mother as two of her children, aged six and 11, stood behind her crying.

The family dog began barking ferociously’ The mum told the gang it was a ‘pit’ – or a Pitbull terrier – and to get out. “They were forced to leave empty handed,” the prosecutor added.

In a victim personal statement, she said the men’s actions had ‘wrecked a family’. Noises at the door now caused the dog to react, which in turn made the children scream and cry.

Jailing them for a total of 17-and-a-half years for conspiracy to rob, Judge Nigel Daly said: “A lady and her children, some of them quite young, were in their house believing themselves to be safe, believing themselves to be protected when you together with others smashed your way into that house.

“Between you, you had with you an imitation firearm – like a shotgun – and at least one knife.

“I’m sure that you appreciate because neither of you are stupid just what effect that would have had on that mother and her young children who were awoken and had to face these men breaking into their house armed with weapons.”

READ MORE: 'Pitbull' saved family from gun-toting robbery gang

The 'vamoose' burglary gang

Five men were sentenced to almost 20 years for their part in a sophisticated conspiracy to steal powerful cars.

Michael McDonagh was the leader of the ‘vamoose’ burglary gang, so called by detectives because they managed to swipe keys to high-performance motors and get away so quickly.

The gang were snared when police officers, who were lying in wait for them in Banbury, won a high-speed pursuit through the north Oxfordshire town in May 2019. McDonagh was behind the wheel of the VW Golf when he crashed into a knee-high hedge, bringing the chase to an end.

Earlier this month, one of the gang’s victims said she’d told her young son – who was in the house when they broke in overnight in 2019 and swiped her BMW keys – about facing the burglars in court.

“He said: ‘Can you tell them that I hate them?’” the woman told the court.

READ MORE: Full story of 'vamoose' car thieves who drove from Coventry for Oxford raids

Jailing five of the gang members to a total of 19 years and nine months, Judge Pringle told them: “I have no doubt the only sentence I can pass is one of immediate imprisonment in all your cases.”

Rimvydas Mazeika, 24, of Druce Way, Oxford, said by prosecutors to have found high-value cars in Oxford for the Midlands gang to steal, received five and a half years.

Harrison Tubman, 22, of Dunsmore Avenue, Coventry, had 18 convictions for 32 offences. His rap sheet included entries for taking vehicles without consent and being carried in stolen cars. Judge Pringle gave him five years’ imprisonment.

Clockwise from right: Rimvydas Mazeika, Harrison Tubman, Pray Maphosa, George Chadwick Pictures: TVP

Pray Maphosa, 19 now but just 16 at the time, of Featherstone, Wolverhampton, was given 25 years in September for attempted murder after he shot a fellow Coventry gang member in 2020. His four year sentence will be served at the same time as his attempted murder jail term.

George Chadwick, 20, of Earlsdon Avenue North, Coventry, had four convictions including matters for burglary. He received five years and three months in a young offenders’ institution, which included a nine month sentence for aggravated vehicle taking in the West Midlands.

Michael McDonagh, 22, was arrested on a warrant last weekend having been found guilty in his absence. He was remanded in custody by Judge Ian Pringle QC.

READ MORE: Car theft gang stole BMWs, Audis and VWs in Oxford

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