Gang hid on roof before raiding stores

A gang of "Spider-Man" burglars scaled the sheer walls of buildings to carry out a series of audacious break-ins, escaping with millions of pounds worth of mobile phones.

They climbed onto the rooftops of stores and set off the alarms in a cunning ruse to fool the police.

When officers arrived, and found nothing amiss, they would dismiss the call-out as a faulty alarm.

Meanwhile, the gang would be lying in wait on the roof, complete with climbing gear and walkietalkies. When the police left, they would break into the store and steal goods to order without fear of being disturbed.

The "sophisticated" gang targeted stores such as Carphone Warehouse and Phones4U, and carried out more than 100 raids before police finally caught up with them.

Today the gang were beginning sentences after admitting charges of conspiracy to burgle or handle stolen goods at Blackfriars Crown Court. Peter Clarkson, 49, from Peckham, whose exploits earned him the nickname "Del Boy", was handed a suspended sentence of 18 months while his 26-year-old son, also called Peter, from Welling, was jailed for five years.

Joseph Reed Jnr, 23, of Camberwell, was jailed for four years and William Dove, 21, of Welling, for three years. Businessman Abdul Awada, 39, who ran a mobile phone shop, admitted conspiracy to handle stolen property and was jailed for 18 months.

During raids on the suspects' homes last year officers seized ?62,000 in cash from a living-room safe and recovered ?180,000 worth of mobiles, computers and stolen camera equipment. Detectives also found footage from EastEnders, featuring a car chase involving actor Martin Kemp, which had been stolen from a BBC van.

The gang were finally caught after surveillance by Scotland Yard. The court heard the men stole around 5,000 mobile phones in raids on 25 stores, though detectives believe they carried out many more. The gang set up their own salvage company in Gravesend with the name Salvage4U.

The phones would be delivered to a shop in Greenford then exported to the Middle East, where they sold for three times their value.

Detective Sergeant Michael Clifford of the Territorial Police Crime Squad said: "They were a very sophisticated and very determined team. They chose their target premises very carefully.

"Two of them in particular were very adept at climbing and very agile and very fit. During our surveillance we observed them on top of 40ft-high roofs with no overhangs. We recovered a harness, which we think they used to shin up high pipes. After their arrest the number of burglaries on mobile phone shops fell to a negligible amount."

Police finally swooped on the gang in November 2003 after an 18-month investigation codenamed Operation Zarzu. They suspect the gang may have been active for much longer.

Officers also arrested a man in the US in connection with suspected handling of stolen phones, while detectives identified assets connected to the gang of more than ?1 million in bank accounts in the UK, US and Middle East.

Five cars were seized, including a BMW 325 Tourer, a Vauxhall Zafira, a Silver Vauxhall Vectra and a Ford Escort RS 2000.

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