Robbers who stole cars and cash used high-tech tracking system to target owners of Chinese takeaways

Michael Crosdale and Robert Fairweather put the tracking devices on the cars of people - many of whom were owners of Chinese restaurants or takeaways - to work out where they lived and track their movements.

When they were confident they were not at home, they would ransack their houses looking for cash and jewellery.

The duo also stole cars, and an estimated £150,000 was stolen from properties in Leeds, Bradford, Wakefield and London between May and September last year.

However, they were foiled by police after the technology they were using helped police find them after a tracker was discovered on a victim's car.

An 80-year-old man was attacked and robbed outside his home after collecting gold from Heathrow Airport. Detectives identified that the same tracker used in the burglary conspiracy in Yorkshire had been used to track the robbery victim’s movements.

The device showed it had been held, recharged and logged into at the homes of both Crosdale, 28, and Fairweather, 29.

When Crosdale was arrested at his home in Manse Road in Burley-in-Wharfdale, police found cash and several mobile devices, including an iPad hidden under a sofa. Its internet browser was connected to the tracking website used to access the tracker used in the offences.

Police also found he had been constantly searching for Chinese takeaways online during the timeof the offences, and information from the onboard computer in his BMW M3 linked him to the scene of several crimes.

Fairweather was arrested at his home in Ranelagh Avenue, Bradford, and evidence from recovered devices also linked him to the conspiracy and the robbery.

Both men pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit burglary, and were convicted of the robbery after a trial at Leeds Crown Court.

Both were sentenced to a total of 15 years each with consecutive three-year terms for drugs and proceeds of crime offences.

Detective Inspector Vicky Vessey, who heads Leeds District Crime Team, said: “This was a highly organised criminal conspiracy making use of tracking technology to target the victims.

“It was however that same technology, which they thought allowed them to keep their distance in the planning of these offences, that helped us to track them down.

“Lengthy and painstaking investigative work, supported by the expertise of our specialist digital media investigators, gave us a comprehensive package of evidence that linked these offenders to the crimes and has seen them brought to justice.

“We hope those they targeted can take some comfort from knowing they have now had to answers for their actions.”