Northampton gang jailed for longer
Matthew Brown, Terrance Brown and Otis Barrett have had their sentences increased following intervention by the Attorney General, Rt Hon Suella Braverman QC MP.
Three prolific burglars have had their sentences increased following intervention by the Attorney General, Rt Hon Suella Braverman QC MP.
Matthew Lawrence Brown, 30, Terrance Brown and Otis Barrett, both 26, carried out 45 burglaries over a 3-month period throughout the national lockdown.
皇冠体育appy primarily targeted retail premises in order to steal cigarettes, mostly in the Northamptonshire area between February and May 2020, which they sold on for profit. 皇冠体育appy stole items worth a total of almost 拢300,000 and caused around 拢120,000 in damage to the premises they burgled. 皇冠体育app gang鈥檚 spree was stopped after they were caught red-handed by police and arrested in May.
皇冠体育app three offenders played a leading role in a sophisticated gang numbering up to five members. 皇冠体育appy communicated via WhatsApp and Snapchat, and regularly carried out physical reconnaissance of their targets. 皇冠体育app national lockdown forced the gang to become more localised to Northampton as they could no longer easily travel outside of their local areas without attracting attention.
On one occasion, police were able to recover some of the stolen cigarettes but within 24 hours the gang were able to identify the location of where they had been stored 鈥� at a civilian warehouse 鈥� and steal them back. In order to facilitate the audacious plan they threatened a staff member who was employed to protect the site and made off again with the cigarettes.
皇冠体育appy were sentenced on 4 September at Northampton Crown Court. Matthew Brown and Terrance Brown were each sentenced to 6 years鈥� imprisonment. Otis Barrett was sentenced to 6 years鈥� and 4 month鈥檚 imprisonment.
皇冠体育appir sentences were referred to the Court of Appeal by the Attorney General under the Unduly Lenient Sentence (ULS) scheme.
On 17 December, in a joint hearing at the Court of Appeal, the sentences were found to be unduly lenient. Matthew Brown鈥檚 sentence was increased to 9 years鈥� imprisonment, Terrance Brown鈥檚 was increased to 9 years鈥� and Otis Barrett鈥檚 was increased to 9 years鈥� and 4 months.
After the hearing at the Court of Appeal the Attorney General, Rt Hon Suella Braverman QC MP, said:
This audacious gang is responsible for hundreds of thousands of pounds worth of damage and stolen goods. I welcome the Court鈥檚 judgment as it reflects the severity of their crimes.