A wanted burglar responsible for stealing £11,000 worth of stock from a Newark antiques shop has been caught.
Response officers spotted and chased down Stephen Joynes while attending a call about someone acting suspiciously in London Road, Newark.
While questioning Joynes about that on Saturday (26 April) morning, it became apparent to officers that the man in front of them was the chief suspect in a break-in.
The 32-year-old put himself on the radar of police after he used a garden spade to smash the window of an antiques store based in Kelham Road, in the early hours of 29 March.
Joynes managed to cut himself while climbing over the glass during the break-in, which resulted in around £11,000 worth of jewellery and antiques being stolen from within.
When the scene of the break-in was examined by response officers and the Crime Scene Investigation (CSI) team, they later found Joynes’ blood at the window and were able to identify him as being the person responsible for the burglary.
After being caught over the weekend and presented with the strong case already built against him, the thief pleaded guilty to burglary at his first court appearance when the charge was put to him.
This took place at Nottingham Magistrates’ Court on Monday (28 April), with Joynes, of no fixed address, released on conditional bail until his sentencing hearing at Mansfield Magistrates’ Court on 29 May.
Sergeant Greg Saxelby, of Nottinghamshire Police, said:
“This was a great example of multiple teams working together and communicating effectively with one another to identify and catch a wanted offender.
“Our Newark response team had already spotted and detained Stephen Joynes in connection with a separate incident, when they realised he was in fact an outstanding suspect in a burglary where several thousand pounds worth of items were stolen.
“That we were able to connect him to that was down to some great work between the response officers in attendance and the CSI team, who managed to link Joynes to blood found next to a window that had been smashed to gain entry to the shop in question.
“I’d also like to commend officers for working through the night after bringing Joynes in to compile the casefile needed to bring a charge against him the next morning.
“This evidence was so strong that he was left with no alternative but to admit what he’d done in court at the first opportunity, so it was really pleasing to have achieved this positive result.”
