Three burglars who caused £1,700 damage to Wellingborough Co-op jailed

Andrew Huarns, aged 31, Tony Villette, aged 24 and Daniel Oliver, aged 33, were caught by police after the alarm of the supermarket in Farm Road, Wellingborough, was activated for the second occasion in the early hours of March 21.

Northampton Crown Court heard Huarns and Oliver were using a petrol-powered disc cutter to try to break into a large safe.

The pair attempted to flee from officers via a hole in the ceiling they had used to gain entry to the store.

Stephen Moore, prosecuting, said police had been called out at 1.30am after the alarm had been activated. Officers noted that entry had been gained via the roof and alcohol and cigarettes had been stolen.

A car was also seen driving away from the scene as officers arrived.

Three hours later, the alarm was activated again and when officers arrived they went to the rear of the store and found Huarns and Oliver using the disc-cutter.

Villette, who had been waiting in a Vauxhall Astra 100 metres away, was arrested by an officer patrolling the area.

Cigarettes worth £517 and alcohol worth £72 were recovered from the vehicle.

Mr Moore said Co-op had estimated the cost of repairing damage to the store as £1,762.

All three men pleaded guilty to burglary at the first opportunity.

Huarns, of no fixed abode, was in breach of a one-year suspended sentence he had been given just three weeks before the burglary.

Matthew Rowcliffe, mitigating, said Huarns had committed the offences due to his addiction to drugs.

Huarns was sentenced to 32 months in prison for the burglary and ordered to serve three months of his suspended sentence, consecutively.

Oliver, of woodland Drive, Burton Latimer, and Villette, of Priory Road, Wellingborough, were both sentenced to 32 months in jail.