Burglars who preyed on pensioners in Soham and Wicken jailed

Two burglars who preyed on pensioners in Soham and Wicken have been jailed.

Twenty-eight-year-old Kenny Hughes, and Shane Cunningham, 35, first approached an 83-year-old woman in Drury Lane, Wicken, on September 25, claiming they were working in the field behind her property and offered to trim an overgrown tree for £230.

The victim told them she didn’t have enough money so they cut the price to £200 and a cup of tea.

After they had, left she discovered her jewellery had been taken. She spoke to her neighbour who had been looking out for her, and had taken photos of the blue Passat the men were were driving and reported it to police.

Cambridge Crown Court heard that a few hours later the pair knocked on the door of a 71-year-old woman at her home in Orchard Row, Soham. They claimed to be subcontractors sent to cut down bushes in her back garden following complaints from neighbours.

They barged past her with a chainsaw and went out to the garden before telling her it would cost £300 upfront and another £300 when finished.

They told her they would return the next day. The woman reported the incident to police telling officers the men had been driving a blue vehicle.

Police tracked the car down in Fordham Road, Soham, and found Cunningham in the driver’s seat and Hughes in the back.

A search of the men and the car revealed the jewellery and money from the Wicken incident and, on a piece of paper, the mobile phone number they had written down from the wall of the Soham victim.

Cunningham, of Oxney Road, Peterborough, was charged with burglary and burglary with intent to steal and was jailed for five years while Hughes, of St Thomas’s Road, Luton, was charged with burglary, burglary with intent to steal and escaping from lawful custody and was jailed for 30 months.