A Harold Hill man who was part of a gang that stole £14,000 worth of cash and goods from a Sainsbury’s store has been jailed for 33 months.

Jesse Orme, 32, of Woodbridge Close, was sentenced at Liverpool Crown Court for conspiracy to commit burglary in Warrington, Cheshire.

Radas Balkevicius, 32, of Skelmersdale, and 46-year-old Richard Mattock, of no fixed abode, were also jailed for 36 months and 31 months respectively for the same offence.

Suspended sentences were handed to three more men including Joseph Orme, 36, also of Woodbridge Close in Harold Hill.

The incident took place in the early hours of June 24 in 2022 at a newly opened Sainsbury’s store in Manchester Road, Warrington, where the men travelled to all the way from Essex.

Upon arrival in the town, Cheshire Constabulary  said the group had changed their number plates on the cars to avoid detection.

The force said Balkevicius had been working as a carpenter at the supermarket and was given a key and fob to access the premises as part of the job.

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CCTV footage showed suspects approaching the store on foot and disabling the alarm using Balkevicius’s key and fob. They then forced entry to the self-service tills and stole cash, the police said.

The gang was seen leaving the store from the rear door carrying two plastic bags that contained cash and cigarettes and driving out in a Vauxhall Astra car onto Manchester Road.

Following this, police said a Mercedes Sprinter was spotted driving towards the store and more suspects entered wearing paper suits and face masks. Once inside, the group stole cigarettes and alcohol and then fled via the rear door too.

The police said the store manager was present during this stage and contacted them.

The Astra and Sprinter activated ANPR and, within a mile of the store, officers sighted the van which was blocked in by several police vehicles.

Det Con Neil Mooney said the defendants targeted the store hoping to make some easy money but instead got criminal records.

He said: “They used a variety of tactics to try and evade police, including using false registration plates. But thanks to the hard work of our officers, there really was nowhere to hide, and they have now been held accountable for their actions."

All six men pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit burglary before being sentenced last month.

Joseph Orme received a 22-month sentence - suspended for 18 months, was ordered to do 30 days of a rehabilitation activity and given 200 hours of unpaid work.

Officers tracked down Jesse Orme in Romford after his DNA profile matched with the forensic swabs of the self-service tills recovered by the crime scene examiner. He was arrested by Metropolitan Police in December 2022.