Gang facing jail after hospital break-in spree during coronavirus crisis

The gang targeted hospitals in Chester-le-Street, Bishop Auckland, Darlington, Stockport and Manchester in a well-planned spree which happened last month.

Norfolk men Oliver Zak Henry Evans, 22, of Sandy Lane North, Wallington, Harry David Bradley Goodrum, 23, of Norwich Road, Dereham, Jake Alexander Roberts, 23, of Chestnut Hill,

Norwich, and Wayne John Grady, 41, of no fixed address, admitted a single charge of conspiracy to commit burglary.

Judge Paul Watson, sitting at Teesside Crown Court, told them it was an extremely serious offence and they should expect substantial jail terms when he sentences them on Tuesday, June 2.

He remanded them in custody in the meantime.

After first striking at Stepping Hill Hospital, in Stockport, and Willington Hospital, in Manchester, towards the end of March, they travelled to the North East and smashed their way into a storage unit at Chester-le-Street Community Hospital to steal canisters in the early hours of the next day.

They committed similar attacks on hospitals in Bishop Auckland and Darlington, taking 14 canisters from the latter, and driving off with them in the back of a BMW fitted with stolen number plates.

Police in Lincolnshire stopped a van the gang were using at a service station and found 29 gas canisters in the back.

Two men were arrested in the van and two others in the BMW were stopped by police in North Yorkshire.

It is understood that the theft of the pain relief gas could have forced hospital bosses to cancel operations and the damage to storage units could have compromised oxygen supplies needed by Covid-19 patients.

Outside court, Detective Sergeant John Tyers, from Durham Police, said: "Stealing oxygen canisters from hospitals is a despicable crime and totally unacceptable, especially during these times when they are needed to help the most vulnerable.

"The gang has shown little regard towards the NHS and patients undergoing treatment and this could literally be the difference between life and death."

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