Two burglars who forced their way into a home then hopped fences to avoid capture have been jailed – after West Midlands Police officers quickly tracked them down and found them hiding in gardens and under a bush.
James McGinn and Dylan Keeley were brought to justice after officers responded to a burglary in progress on 10 October last year.
Initially reports came in around 7.30pm of two men walking up and down Lichfield Road in Sutton Coldfield trying car door handles.
Response officers quickly arrived on scene and carried out an area search, however, two minutes later another call came in stating a break-in was happening on Jordan Road, which joins with Lichfield Road.
Within minutes, the officers found a home with the door wide open and heard movement upstairs. They went in to check if everyone was safe and saw two men jumping out of a bedroom window into the garden.
The pair made off, hopping into numerous gardens along Jordan Road so the Dog Unit and police helicopter were called in to help.
After searching several gardens with the assistance of the National Police Air Service, the dog found Keeley hiding in a garden and officers found McGinn hiding under a bush.
The pair were also charged with a previous burglary on 8 September last year when they forced their way into an elderly woman’s home on Holly Lane in Erdington.
The woman, who is hard of hearing, was sleeping when the men broke in and stole her car keys from her bedside table while she lay in her bed.
James McGinn, of Needham Street, Nechells, was charged with one attempted burglary and two burglaries. The 23-year-old was sentenced to two years and 10 months in prison.
Dylan Keeley, of Tottenham Crescent, Kingstanding, was charged with the same offences, as well as three further attempted burglaries after he targeted homes on College Road in Sutton Coldfield on 21 August. The 22-year-old tried door handles at three houses in an attempt to break in, as well as trying all the nearby car door handles.
Keeley was jailed for four years at Birmingham Crown Court on 24 February.
Sergeant Frances Clark, from the Sutton and Erdington neighbourhood policing team, said: “These heartless thieves thought nothing of forcing entry to people’s homes, including a vulnerable, elderly woman who was sleeping.