East Acton Man Jailed For String of Burglaries

Thefts were carefully planned including cutting cables to disable CCTV

Paul Thompson in a mask. Picture: Met Police

A 50-year-old man from East Acton has been jailed for three years after pleading guilty to four burglaries which the police described as carefully planned.

Paul Thompson of Carlisle Avenue was sentenced along with his accomplice, 48-year-old Jason Perry who was jailed for eight years including for one case of theft of more than £200,000 from a high street bank in Whitechapel.

The offences took places between August and September 2019. The two men employed a number of different techniques to carry out their crimes, including posing as workmen to open manhole covers and cut alarm cables.

They also wore facemasks in a bid to hide their identities and used walkie talkies to communicate while on site.

The court heard that police were called on the morning of Monday, 1 July 2019 to reports that a bank on Whitechapel Road, E1 had been broken into. Five cash machines had been cut into, with a later audit revealing that around £210,039 had been stolen.

Paul Thompson

An investigation was launched by police and CCTV from the evening of Saturday, 28 June 2019 showed Perry supervising another unidentified man wearing a high-vis jacket and accessing a manhole outside of the bank.

They then returned to their vehicle, a white Ford transit van parked nearby, and returned to the bank, entering via a building site next door after making a hole in the wall.

Later they were seen on CCTV going back and forth between the bank and the van and carrying bags, before driving away at 1:07am. The next morning, Perry and the second man returned to the venue and continued their burglary.

The crimes Thompson was convicted of committing with Perry included breaking into a shop on Rom Valley Way, RM7. Over £5,500 in cash stolen along with a number of other items; on Sunday 12/Monday, 13 August 2019 a supermarket was broken into on Lea Bridge Road, E10. Thompson was seen wearing a mask at the time and a quantity of alcohol stolen to the value of over £2,500; on Sunday 1/Monday, 2 September there was and an attempted break in of bank on High Road, Ilford. Perry and Thompson were seen to use walkie talkies to communicate.

Both men were put under surveillance and, on Sunday, 15 September, were seen outside of Leyton Leisure Centre at around 10am lifting up a manhole cover outside the premises and cutting cables within it. CCTV also showed Thompson approaching the doors to the leisure centre with Perry looking on. They then left the scene but returned later that night when they forced open the fire exit doors.

Perry was arrested at the scene and Thompson, who fled from officers, was arrested at 4.45pm.

Perry’s home address was searched by police and items from a number of the burglaries found, as well as a quantity of cash. The walkie talkie used during one of the incidents was also seized, while the mask worn by Thompson was located in a van being used by the pair at the point of arrest.

Detective Constable David Reed, from the Met’s Flying Squad, said: “Both Perry and Thompson are career burglars who targeted multiple businesses over the course of four months, causing significant losses.

“The offences were carefully planned and included accessing manhole covers to cut cables in order to disable CCTV and alarm systems.

“Despite this, as a direct result of a proactive operation led by the Met’s Flying Squad, strong evidence was obtained connecting them to these crimes leaving them little choice but to admit their involvement.

“Had they not been caught, I am certain they would have gone onto commit further offences and they are now rightly behind bars where they belong.”

July 6, 2020