Detectives in Herefordshire were celebrating an early Christmas present this week after a “foot soldier” in a group of professional burglars responsible for a “mobile crime wave” across the county was jailed for four years in Gloucester.
Thomas Mochan was part of an organised gang which stole high end objects from isolated rural houses Herefordshire, as well as in Gwent, Shropshire and Gloucestershire.
The 12 burglaries in Herefordshire that Mochan was convicted of were in isolated rural areas across the south of the county.
Det Insp Richard Rees of Hereford CID said, “The four-year term of imprisonment for Mochan at Crown Court yesterday (Thursday) is a very fair result and should give those burglary victims involved a degree of comfort that he has been caught.
“This has been a good example of cross-border co-operation by all the police forces involved and will emphasise our commitment to keep Herefordshire the safe place that it already is.”
Mochan was caught after a garage raid in Slimbridge, Glos, when he was tracked down by a police helicopter and dogs after the getaway car was set alight, the court heard.
Mochan, 30, of Annie Way, Gorman’s Yard, Over, Gloucestershire, admitted to two burglaries and asked for 34 similar offences to be taken into consideration.
Crown Prosecutor Julian Kesner said that the total value for all the offences taken into consideration was £78,000.
Officers had pursued the Vauxhall car, which had three occupants, which failed to stop towards Over, where the men de-camped.
Before running from the car, it was set alight using lighter fuel and no forensic evidence could ever be gathered from it.
A man called Nookey Lee was caught by a dog while Mochan was caught after he submerged himself up to his neck in flood water, and a combination of dogs and the police helicopter found him.
There were 12 burglaries in Herefordshire, 13 in Gwent and five in Shropshire with the theft of the vehicle in Gloucestershire, the court heard. All the burglaries had a similar “modus operandi” and targeted jewellery, antiques and silverware in particular, at large isolated rural properties.
Lloyd Jenkins, defending, said that Mochan, a married father of six, fully accepted the seriousness of his position.
He asked the judge to consider his timely guilty plea, his frank admissions to police, his obvious regret and remorse, and co-operation with police when passing sentence.
“He got in with the wrong crowd,” said Mr Jenkins. “
He was not the brains. He was one of the footsoldiers.”
The judge said: “The organisation in which you were a part was a mobile crime wave.”
He said the offence merited eight years had Mochan been convicted after a trial.
He sentenced Mochan to four years’ in prison less the 34 days he has already spent in prison.
He will serve half before being released on licence.
