A prolific thief has been jailed as part of a crackdown by Nottingham City West officers to stop those who steal from vehicles.
Warren Staniforth was tracked down and arrested over the weekend after being linked to a series of different thefts.
The 39-year-old broke into a parked van or truck on each occasion before helping himself to items that didn’t belong to him.
Staniforth’s latest offence saw him steal more than £2,000 worth of property, including a hammer drill, from a vehicle in Moor Road, Bilborough.
That theft on 18 March 2024 came as part of a recent crackdown by police in Bilborough, Aspley and Leen Valley to target those involved in theft from vehicle offences.
As part of this, city west officers have stepped up patrols of locations reported to be targeted by thieves and carried out extra operations to identify and stop offenders.
Following the theft on 18 March, police carried out extensive inquiries, which led to Staniforth being spotted and arrested in the Bilborough area on Saturday (23 March).
He would then go on to be linked to three more similar thefts in the process, with two taking place this March, and another happening last June.
An incident on 13 March saw Staniforth smash a truck window in Flamsteed Road, Bilborough, before stealing around £500 in cash.
This followed the theft of a nail gun and radio from a van in Cinderhill on 5 March, and a bag being stolen from a vehicle in Nottingham city centre on 28 June 2023.
Staniforth, of Broxtowe, would go on to plead guilty to four thefts and a further count of criminal damage at Nottingham Magistrates’ Court on Monday (25 March).
He was then handed a 33-week prison sentence, and ordered to pay a total of £700 in compensation.
The city west neighbourhood policing team and its partners selected thefts from vehicles as the policing priority for Bilborough, Aspley and Leen Valley in January.
This followed a spike in offending at the turn of the year, with Staniforth’s conviction representing one of a number that have followed in city west since the police crackdown began.
Sergeant Darran Owen, of Nottinghamshire Police, said: “We’re really pleased to see that Staniforth has now been handed a prison sentence for his offending – most of which took place in the city west areas.
“Over the last few months, we’ve started to see some really good results in relation to targeting those involved in thefts from motor vehicles, which is currently a chosen policing priority for us.
“We’ve found that most of these thefts are carried out by a small number of people, and that point has been evidenced by the fact we haven’t had any reported incidents since Staniforth was brought into custody.
“Nobody has the right to take items that don’t belong to them, and – as Staniforth is now finding out to his cost – this is a very serious offence that can lead to time behind bars.”
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