An organised crime gang who led police on a high-speed car and helicopter chase after carrying out a £10,000 raid on a Lanarkshire house have been jailed. Lawrence Connor, 26, James Loveridge, 37, James Loveridge Junior, 18, and a 17-year-old male were part of a network of criminals targeting family homes for high-value gold jewellery, a court was told.
The four criminals have now been sentenced to a total of six years and eight months in prison after pleading guilty at Hamilton Sheriff Court in December. They admitted breaking into a house in Bellshill during a daylight robbery and making off with jewellery worth £10,000 as well as £1000 in cash.
The bungling raiders were rumbled after eagle-eyed neighbours spotted a black BMW driving past the house in MacDougall Quadrant on March 24 last year. They called the police after seeing three men running away from the property with a bag before jumping into a car.
