Burglars who used Rightmove to target homes and steal £1m of valuables jailed

A gang of burglars who used Rightmove and Google to plan their crime spree have been jailed.

The four men stole £1m worth of valuables from wealthy homes across the UK, even setting weekly targets of how much gold they wanted to steal.

Kristian Gropcaj, 31, George Pepa, 31, and Krisjian Dedndreaj, 29, all from the West Midlands, and Sidorjan Lleshi, 27, from Sheffield, all pleaded guilty to the burglaries at Chester Crown Court.

They were given prison sentences between nine years and 10 years and nine months. Endrit Nikolli, 27, will be sentenced at a later date.

The gang, originally from Albania, were linked to 44 burglaries across the UK.

This included eight in Cheshire, two in Middlesbrough, nine in Derbyshire, two in Leicestershire, five in Nottinghamshire, seven in Staffordshire, two in Warwickshire and three in Birmingham, three in Worcestershire, two in Hereford and one in Shropshire.

The court heard the men used Google to search for affluent postcodes to identify potential targets, before browsing Rightmove to research floorplans of various properties.

They would then break in to the properties, stealing money, jewellery, and other valuables, even setting weekly targets of how much gold they wanted to steal.

Cheshire Police discovered the gang typically broke into the homes through the first floor, often using a ladder.

This meant they could avoid triggering some burglar alarm systems which only covered downstairs floors.

The homes would be ransacked as the men searched for valuables and ripped sheets off beds to use as makeshift bags to carry stolen items.

In CCTV footage, they were captured stealing an entire safe from one home.

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