Wednesday - June 24, 2009

Conviction of traveller family reduces crime rate in a county to 20-year low.

I’d be willing to bet that even those BMEWSers who see and do understand the problem of these vermin, even you must have thought I might have been a tad over the top in my reaction and comments regarding “Travellers” and the threats they pose.

Nope. If anything I haven’t been strong enough or rude enough or mean and hateful enough in my language.

So here.  Take a look.  And you know damn well and good when the scum are released they will be back at it again.  It’s what these folks do. It’s their profession.  They are trained from an early age.

The answer is not blowin’ in the wind.
The answer is Genocide! Period!

Conviction of traveller family reduces crime rate in a county to 20-year low
By DAILY MAIL REPORTER
Last updated at 4:22 PM on 24th June 2009

The jailing of a notorious criminal family has reduced crime rates in a county to a 20-year low.

Members of the Johnson traveller family were an ‘organised and ruthless’ gang which committed more than 100 offences, from cash machine raids to stealing metal.

They were finally caught after carrying out an audacious string of burglaries on country homes which netted them an estimated £80million.

Five members of the family were jailed for nearly 50 years at Reading Crown Court following a month-long trial last year.

Since their arrest, Gloucestershire Police said the county’s crime rates have plummeted to levels last seen in the 1980s.

Figures show there were 44,136 recorded crimes in Gloucestershire in 2008/09 compared to 45,685 in 2007/08 - representing a three per cent drop.

This followed a significant drop from 2006/07, when 52,388 crimes were recorded.

Chief Constable Dr Timothy Brain said the conviction of the Johnsons had disrupted a major crime network in the county.

‘What that operation showed is that no-one is untouchable.’

Richard ‘Chad’ Johnson, 33, and Daniel O’Loughlin, 32, were both jailed for 11 years; Michael Nicholls, 29, was given 10 years; Albi Johnson, 25, was jailed for nine years; and 54-year-old Ricky Johnson was given eight years at Reading Crown Court.

The Johnsons would stake out country mansions and stately homes, sometimes for weeks, pinpointing the best means of entry and escape.

Wearing balaclavas to cover their faces, the men would then strike - scouring rooms and escaping in stolen cars leaving little or no trace.

Their targets included the 17th-Century Wiltshire mansion of property tycoon Harry Hyams, where they stole property worth millions in a raid described later as the UK’s biggest ever private house burglary.

Antiques, furniture, porcelain and clocks were stolen worth at least £23m and possibly three times that figure. A third of the valuables were later discovered in a hidden underground bunker.

Mr Hyams, who is 155th on the Sunday Times Rich List with an estimated fortune of £320 million, was not at home when the raid took place.

Other victims included Formula One motor racing advertising tycoon Paddy McNally, an old flame of the Duchess of York, and Lord Lieutenant of Berkshire Sir Philip Wroughton.

The five burglars broke in through the swimming pool entrance at the rear of Mr McNally’s Swindon home.

The kitchen window was smashed and silverware, high-class furniture including a satin wood inlaid cutlery box, were taken.

They then used a bronze urn to smash down the drawing room door and stole highvalue antiques including furniture, silverware and clocks. In all they took £1m worth of property.

Those behind the raids were part of the Johnson family - an organised criminal gang who detectives say have plagued the country for 20 years.

They were all found guilty of conspiracy to commit burglary between April 8, 2005 and October 13, 2006 after a month-long trial at Reading Crown Court.

They were sentenced in January but the case can now be reported following the conclusion of other cases against the family.

Ricky Johnson is the father of Chad and Albi, while O’Loughlin is his nephew. Nicholls was the partner of his daughter, Faye. They were based at a static caravan park in Evesham, Worcestershire.

Ricky has also been jailed for defrauding old people through a bogus building company.

Six years ago, Chad married Tania Campbell, a 71-year-old heiress who suffers from schizophrenia. After the wedding, he sold her flat, emptied her bank accounts, stole her £250,000 inheritance and left her with debts of more than £60,000.

Last year he was given a threeand-a-half-year sentence for fraud. The family’s notoriety was cemented when a BBC film crew shot a documentary called Summer With The Johnsons, broadcast in 2005.

During the programme, Chad said: ‘I have committed a few burglaries and pinched a few handbags, but you grow out of it.’ Ricky admitted he had done ‘an awful lot of robbing’ but claimed he had never burgled country homes and denied any part in a raid carried out by the Johnsons on Waddesdon Manor, home of the Rothschild family.

But the 54-year-old, who has 22 previous convictions for 57 offences dating back to 1965, added: ‘If I feel I have got to rob a stately home, I will do so. I feel I have got the f***ing right to rob the lords out there. I feel I have got the right to rob the lords, sirs and the ladies.’

In one of the raids on Stanton Harcourt Manor, in Witney, Oxfordshire, Ricky’s other son Albi leapt from a first-floor window to escape when challenged, breaking both legs in the process but still managing to escape capture.

In October 2005, the police forces of Gloucestershire, Thames Valley, Warwickshire and West Mercia joined forces to crack down on the Johnsons.

Wiltshire police joined the task force after the gang raided Mr Hyams’ home Ramsbury Manor in February 2006 and stole property worth more than £23million in their biggest and most brazen operation.

The following month, an anonymous tip-off led police to an ‘Aladdin’s Cave’ - a bunker in the Warwickshire countryside where the Johnsons stored some of their loot.

In all, detectives investigated 116 offences of country house burglaries, cash dispenser and metal thefts which happened between January 2005 and August 2006.

Yeah ... 50 years. Not each individually. 10 years for ea. of the five.

See other photos HERE.

Posted by peiper     on 06/24/2009 at 12:10 PM   
Filed Under: • Crime • Travelers/Gypsies/Squatters •  
• Comments (5) • Trackbacks(0)  Permalink •  

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It's been a long strange trip without you Skipper, but thanks for pointing us in the right direction and giving us a swift kick in the behind to get us going. Keep lookin' down on us, will ya? Thanks.

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