Dean Baldwin and Paul Debenham, both 25, and Michael Weightman, 26, attacked stores repeatedly across Britain.

Dean Baldwin and Paul Debenham, both 25, and Michael Weightman, 26, attacked stores repeatedly across Britain. masked bandits used crowbars and sledge hammers to burst into high street shops overnight, cleaning out tills in a five-month burglary spree.The gang netted at least £60,000 in profits and caused a similar amount in damage, Inner London Crown Court was told. The raiders first struck in the early hours of August 19 last year, tearing through front doors of the Bedford town centre store and grabbing £300 from the till. They went on to steal from 43 more M&S stores in England, Scotland and Wales in well executed break-ins. James Brown, prosecuting, said: "These three defendants were involved in a long-running and sophisticated conspiracy to burgle Marks and Spencer stores up and down the country. "The conspiracy relied on a piece of inside knowledge namely that, at that time, a certain amount of cash was left overnight in the tills. "The participants were well-organised and aware of CCTV and forensic issues. "They were careful to remain only a few minutes inside the store once the alarms had gone off and were quite content to cause considerable damage to gain entry to the shop and the tills inside." <br />A raid at a store in Ayr on January 6 finally caught up with Baldwin, after his stolen blue VW Golf was captured by a security camera entering the town. He was arrested two days later by cops in the getaway car which contained gloves, crowbars and sledgehammers, and hundreds of pounds-worth of M&S vouchers stolen in Falkirk. <br />However the remaining members of the gang continued with the raids before being caught by police on January 23. Baldwin, of Croydon, Debenham, of Gatestone, Upper Norwood, and Weightman, of, Sutton, all in South London, each admitted conspiracy to burgle between August 1 last year to January 31 this year. Debenham admitted a further count of burglary, relating to the theft of a Wii console and a laptop on May 5 this year. Judge Lindsay Burn remanded the trio in custody ahead of sentence on October 28.

Dean Baldwin and Paul Debenham, both 25, and Michael Weightman, 26, attacked stores repeatedly across Britain.

Dean Baldwin and Paul Debenham, both 25, and Michael Weightman, 26, attacked stores repeatedly across Britain. masked bandits used crowbars ...

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