Serial burglars jailed for 28 years after breaking into homes across Northamptonshire in six-week crime spree

Four burglars have been jailed for a total of 28 years after admitting to a string of violent break-ins across Northamptonshire and the East Midlands in a six-week crime spree.

Alexandru Dumitrescu, 35, his brother Mihail, 27, Romulus Bircea, 49, and Rolls Virag, 41, committed 16 burglary offences in Cambridgeshire and a further 25 in Bedfordshire, Northamptonshire and Buckinghamshire between 12 October and 24 November.

Operating from a property in Gordon Road, Wellingborough, the group primarily targeted detached houses, smashing rear windows to get inside and placing furniture in front of doors in case the victims returned home.

It included a burglary in Brackley that saw Bircea and Alexandru assaulted two women who had returned home and caught them red-handed in a bid to escape.

Over the course of two weeks the group broke into 15 homes in St Neots, Huntingdon, Gravely, Great Staughton, Hail Weston and Catworth, targeting jewellery, cash, alcohol and electronics before fleeing in a silver BMW and green Mazda.

At their sentencing at Cambridge Crown Court on Friday (July 3), the judge heard how Bircea was arrested near his home in Wellingborough on November 28 after he was identified as the registered owner of the Mazda.

Following his arrest the house in Gordon Road was searched where officers found suspected stolen items and the Dumitrescu brothers, who were also arrested.

When the search had concluded officers spotted Virag, who had been circulated as wanted in connection with the series, at McDonald’s in London Road, Wellingborough.

He was arrested and had his car - the BMW which had also been linked to the series - seized from the carpark after the keys were found in his pocket and he confirmed the vehicle belonged to him.

Officers invited burglary victims in to view the suspected stolen property they had recovered, with numerous items successfully being reclaimed.

Investigations revealed further evidence which also placed the men at the burglaries, which in total cost victims more than £230,000.

The group were sentenced on Friday after all admitting conspiring to burgle.

Bircea and Alexandru were both handed eight years in prison.

Mihail was jailed for six years and eight months and Virag was sentenced to five years and four months behind bars.

DC Henry Longhurst, who investigated, said: “The group were orchestrated and picked their targets carefully.

“However, they weren’t as discrete as they thought as the stacks of evidence we were able to build against them gave them no option but to admit their crimes.

“Tackling burglary remains a priority for the force as part of our ongoing efforts to make the county a safer place to live.”