Burglars jailed for £130,000 jewellery haul
Cambridgeshire PoliceTwo burglars have been jailed after admitting to stealing jewellery worth more than £130,000.
Marian Cercel, 53, and Ionut Craciun, 36, both from Walthamstow, east London, were part of a gang linked to 27 burglaries across Cambridgeshire and Buckinghamshire between November and January, Cambridgeshire Police said.
Cercel, of Mount Pleasant Road, was jailed for seven years and two months and Craciun, of Hatherley Road, for six years and nine months at Cambridge Crown Court on Thursday.
Det Con Megan Sims said: "Much of what was stolen had great sentimental, as well as monetary, value and can never be replaced."
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Police said the gang had travelled from London to target properties they believed were empty, searching for jewellery and cash.
The string of offending started in Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire, on 12 November but their victim returned home and chased them away.
They went on to commit a further 16 burglaries or attempted burglaries in Peterborough, nine in the Cambridge area, and one in High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire.
Police said the biggest haul came from a property in Peterborough where they broke in through a patio door and stole gold jewellery worth £72,000.
Their run of crimes came to an end on 7 January when a Ford Mondeo linked to them was spotted in the Cambridge area, the force said.
Officers found gold rings from a break-in earlier that evening.
These were the only stolen items to be recovered from the burglaries.
Both men admitted conspiring to commit burglary with intent to steal and knowingly entering the UK in breach of a deportation order.
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