TWO men have appeared in court accused of being part of a two-week campaign of high value burglaries at houses in rural North Yorkshire.

Noel Anthony Brown, 44, of Highfield Green in Sherburn-in-Elmet, and Andrew Milnes, 44, of Shakespeare Grange in Leeds, each face ten joint allegations of house raids at different locations across the county.

Milnes also faces allegations that he assaulted a man near one of the alleged burglaries and that he had a crowbar with him as an offensive weapon.

York magistrates decided their cases were so serious they had to be dealt with by a judge and jury and remanded both men in custody while the prosecution prepare committal papers. They appeared before court again yesterday.

The men are both charged with carrying out ten house burglaries between May 6 and May 20.

They are alleged to have taken a VW Golf and jewellery – together worth £20,000 – from a house in Beningbrough, jewellery worth £3,500 from a house in Barley Rise, Strensall, jewellery worth £1,000 from a house in Barton-le-Willows, jewellery and a laptop – together worth £250 – from a house in Sand Hutton, jewellery worth £1,300 from a house in Slingsby, jewellery, documents and electronic items from a house in Huby, jewellery from houses in Welburn, near Pickering, and Carlton Miniott, near Thirsk, and carrying out a burglary without stealing anything from a house in Stockton-on-the-Forest.

The assault and offensive weapon allegations are alleged to have occurred near the Stockton-on-the-Forest raid on May 18. Both men are also charged with a burglary near Bedale on May 20 in which they are alleged to have stolen jewellery and other items worth £1,000.

Neither of the men has yet entered a plea.

The court appearance came after police arrested two men on the A1.