A gang of burglars who targeted the homes of elderly people in Huddersfield posing as water company officials have been jailed.
Daniel and Martin McDonagh and John and David Semeniuk carried out numerous distraction burglaries in a three month period last summer after telling victims they needed urgent access to their water supplies.
Leeds Crown Court heard sometimes the man knocking at their door would say there was about to be a flood if they did not act immediately.
Victims would be told to keep hold of their taps or to empty cupboards beneath their sinks while one or more of the team would sneak in and steal things.
In one burglary at a flat off Quarry Road, in Marsh on June 5, the elderly woman was told to keep hold of the taps for about 20 minutes before her visitor left telling her everything was fine and adding: “Make sure you lock your door, be safe.”
Hours later she discovered tins and folders kept in her wardrobe had been moved and found £5,500 savings had been taken.
Nadim Bashir prosecuting told the court the quartet were responsible for 21 burglaries between them “deliberately targeting the home of elderly and vulnerable members of our community.”
Victims included a 73-year-old man living in Dewsbury who allowed one of the gang in after being told he was fitting a washing machine at a neighbour's house and there was a problem with the water. His taps were turned on and he was told to watch them unaware £45 was being stolen from his lounge.
The same day a woman living in Longfield Avenue, Dalton, Huddersfield let a man in after he told her he was from the water board. He turned the taps on and engaged her in conversation for a time before leaving. The next day she discovered £70 was missing from a dressing room drawer.
A third victim that day in Halifax found £330 missing from two purses.
Mr Bashir said on May 30 five burglaries were committed in one day in Batley, Halifax, Wakefield and that evening at the Dalton home of an 83-year-old man who lived with his 79-year-old wife.
Both were registered as disabled.
The man had answered his doorbell and found a caller claiming to be from the Water Board saying there was problem up the street where a washing machine was being fitted.
The caller then walked in uninvited, went to a cupboard under the sink and began messing around in it before turning on the taps. He told the pensioner to leave them running until the water turned blue.
The victim realised something was wrong when he saw another figure running into the living room before both men ran off. The couple then found two handbags and £100 missing.
On June 4 there were four burglaries in Leeds and Wakefield and including one at the home of a 77-year-old woman in Cleckheaton. She found a man at her door shouting: “It’s an emergency. It’s a flood, quick, turn your water off.”
Once inside he told her to keep her hands on the taps and not move but she followed him from the kitchen and saw another man leave with him before discovering her purse on the bed. Nothing had been stolen but she was too scared to sleep that night.
On the same day the pensioner had £5,500 stolen another victim aged 84 in Almondbury Bank had a man tell her to run her taps threatening to call the fire service if she did not. Fortunately she found nothing stolen after his visit.
Mr Bashir said on June 17 there were burglaries in Sowerby Bridge and at the home of an 80-year-old woman in Deighton who was told by a man at the door he needed to come in because a neighbour had a washing machine leak and he wanted to put some dye in the water to make sure it “runs through.”
He told her to turn the tap on and began moving items under her sink before saying he could see some blue dye and would need to go to the flat below. After he left she was concerned and discovered £800 missing.
On June 20 an 86-year-old oman in Long Lane, Dalton was targeted by a man who told her to watch the taps in her bathroom but when she asked for some ID he claimed to be working at neighbours and left without producing any. Nothing was stolen from her.
There were burglaries at Pudsey, Bradford and Liversedge on July 8 by which time at least one of the gang, John Semeniuk, was already recalled to prison and in custody and others were later arrested.
John Semeniuk, 33 of Beckhill Gardens, Leeds, Daniel McDonagh, 24 of Raynville Crescent, Armley, Leeds and Martin McDonagh, 25 of no fixed address were each jailed for nine years four months.
David Semeniuk, 30, of Whitehall Green, Wortley, Leeds was jailed for eight years. All four admitted conspiracy to burgle.
Jailing them Judge Rodney Jameson QC said it was “organised and planned targeting of elderly and old people so it has to be viewed seriously.”
The impact on their victims varied depending on their “fortitude” but “they have necessarily become less trusting and more cautious and nervous in their conduct of every day affairs.”
Police welcome jail sentences for callous conmen
Police mounted a long and complex investigation to trap the bogus water workers gang.
They followed up crimes all across the region - many of them in Huddersfield.
And now detectives have welcomed the tough jail terms handed down by a judge on the four burglars.
Bogus official crimes, or distraction burglaries, are regarded as particularly nasty crimes as in most cases the victims are elderly.
Det SgtJames Bellhouse, of Kirklees Adult Safeguarding Unit, who led the investigation, said: “These men preyed on the most elderly and vulnerable in our communities, exploiting the trust of their many victims to gain access to their homes.
“This was a complex investigation with protracted enquiries carried out to link these four men to crimes across the West Yorkshire area.
“We welcome the significant custodial sentences they have received which reflect the scale and seriousness of the offences they have committed.
“We hope today’s sentencing also sends a strong message that the targeting of the vulnerable and elderly will not be tolerated and that the police and courts take a dim view of those involved in such offending.”
