TWO men who committed ten burglaries around Selby have been jailed for a total of 14 years.

James John Burke, 28, and Simon Robert Bellwood, 36, both pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit burglary at Sheffield Crown Court on Wednesday, July 23.

The court heard how Burke and Bellwood targeted a total of 55 properties throughout Yorkshire and Humberside, including ten in the Selby area, between March and May 2014.

Officers from Selby worked with South Yorkshire Police and Humberside Police and discovered the men were often breaking into properties when the occupants were on holiday and stealing high-value jewellery and cash during their raids.

They were then selling the stolen items on to unsuspecting jewellers, meaning that many of the victims have not been reunited with their possessions.

Burke, of Apple Grove in Auckley, Doncaster, and Bellwood, of Ferndale View, Doncaster, were each sentenced to seven years’ imprisonment.