Burglary gang who stole from John Terry's mansion jailed

Burglary gang who stole from John Terry's mansion jailed



A judge has told John Terry that he should not have posted an Instagram picture showing he was on holiday as she jailed a gang of burglars who deliberately targeted his mansion.

The ex-Chelsea footballer and current Aston Villa captain was on a skiing holiday with his family when their £5million mansion was raided and ransacked in February.

Referring to the Terry burglary, Judge Susan Tapping said: 'It might have been a mistake to post a family photograph on social media to show he was away on holiday.

'As a result his home was deliberately targeted and the master bedroom suite was ransacked.

'They spent some time searching for items to steal. Not content with the original haul they returned with a third man and an angle grinder determined to get into the safe.'



Darren Eastaugh, 30, Joshua Sumer, 27, Roy Head, 28, and Oliver Hart, 25, pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit burglary between February 1 and March 27 this year.

The conspiracy involved seven burglaries across Surrey and Sussex earlier this year, with a total lost from all of them was £600,000.

Today all four were jailed for a total of 27 years and 11 months at Kingston Crown Court.

A fifth man, Kye Hardy-King, 25, pleaded guilty to one count of handling stolen goods when some of the stolen property was found at his home.



They struck after the footballer, who now captains Championship side Aston Villa, posed for pictures on the slopes of the French Alps with his wife Toni, 35, boasting to his 3.4million followers that he was having a 'great few days away skiing with the family'.

But while the couple happily shared photos and videos of their lavish holiday, they didn't realise the posts had attracted the attention of a ruthless gang of prolific burglars.

The men broke into their £5million mansion in Oxshott, Surrey, and spent hours ransacking the property, swiping designer handbags worth £126,000 and rare signed first edition Harry Potter books valued at £18,000.



Sentencing them today, the judge said: 'Over a period of about one month earlier this year four of the defendants together with others unidentified, set out on a series of carefully planned burglaries.

'By the time police surveillance was in place, some defendants were seen spending time looking for suitable homes to be targeted.

'Large detached houses were only considered because of the expectation high value luxury goods would be available.

'In fact it was a very successful campaign and during the the course of seven burglaries £600,000 worth of luxury items were stolen.

She added: 'Four of the defendants are experienced, if not professional burglars.'



She said the gang made away with nearly £400,000 in either items stolen or damaged out of the seven burglaries this was 'most profitable', and none of the items have been recovered.

Not all of the burglaries were at night and some were carried out while someone was in the house, including a recently widowed woman who found one of them in her kitchen.

The court heard she has now been left feeling 'nervous and isolated in her own home'.



The judge said: 'The mental turmoil may be harder to heal fully rather than a physical injury. All these victims have the right to feel safe in their own homes.'

Knowing that no one was home, the audacious gang took their time strolling around his property armed with axes. They spent 45 minutes plundering the master bedroom before returning later that night to break into a safe.

Yesterday, Kingston Crown Court had heard how an 'eye watering' collection of designer jewellery and handbags were looted from the 'vast' collection of Mrs Terry.



She loves designer handbags so much that her 36-year-old husband had a handbag shaped cake made for her birthday last year, which she proudly shared on Instagram.

The raiders discovered that the footballer's wife had so many handbags, they were unable to carry them all and instead plumped only for the 28 most valuable items.

That included a £42,000 snakeskin Hermes bag, Chanel bags worth £8,000 and others from Gucci, Louis Vuitton and Yves Saint Laurent.

Details of the raid on February 25 this year emerged for the first time earlier this week.



The former Chelsea captain and his wife regularly post pictures on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook revealing their lavish lifestyle.

They had recently shared photographs of their exclusive gated estate in Surrey including the front door and luxury interior of their mock Georgian property, which previously belonged to golf star Colin Montgomerie.

But just a short time after revealing they were on a ski holiday, the hn for burglary in 2011 which was committed with Eastaugh - with