Two men jailed for nearly seven years after burglary spree across east Suffolk
The pair stole jewellery, cash, power tools and firearms in a string of break-ins
Two men have been jailed for a combined total of nearly seven years after carrying out a series of burglaries across east Suffolk.
Ronnie Bridges, a 47-year-old of Summerfield Gardens in Lowestoft, was jailed for 42 months.
Jesse Dunford, a 40-year-old of no fixed address but from Lowestoft, was jailed for 40 months.
Both appeared at Ipswich Crown Court on Thursday 17th September after pleading guilty.
Bridges was arrested and charged in July this year over a string of burglaries that took place between 2nd June and 2nd July.
These included break-ins in Somerleyton, Flixton, Beccles and three in Lowestoft.
The pair stole a range of items including jewellery, cash, power tools, car keys and firearms.
Dunford was also arrested and charged with the same offences, as well as driving a vehicle on false plates and dangerous driving.
Both men were then investigated further by the Operation Converter Unit.
After interview, Dunford admitted a further three offences to be taken into consideration at sentencing – two burglaries in Lowestoft and an attempted theft from a store.
Bridges had another 10 offences taken into consideration, including seven further burglaries, two counts of handling stolen goods and an attempted burglary.
Police said the evidence against the pair was extensive.
It included DNA recovered from a crowbar left at one scene, CCTV footage, witness statements, recovered stolen property, vehicle tracking evidence and identification from video footage.
Duncan Etchells of the Operation Converter Unit said: "The offending of this pair had major detrimental impact on their many victims and I hope both can now reflect on their actions whilst in jail. Both offenders were initially investigated by both uniform and CID staff and without their diligence and hard work we would not be in a position to see both Dunford and Bridges behind bars."
Operation Converter is a police initiative aimed at encouraging offenders to admit their crimes.
Police said it allows them to give victims peace of mind that someone has been caught, while giving offenders the chance to clear their slate before their release from prison.