A TEAM of burglars who smashed their way into homes in Merseyside and Cheshire were put behind bars.

The three men and a youth, all from Wirral, chose their targets carefully, brazenly parking on the driveways of rural homes before crashing through patios and back doors to get inside.

At Chester Crown Court, Phillip Ainsworth, 23, of Beatrice Avenue, and Michael Thomas Jones, 27, of Juliet Avenue, both in Bebington, were jailed for three years each.

Adam Orr, 19, from Solly Avenue, Rock Ferry, was locked up for 18 months, while a 17-year-old youth from Birkenhead, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was hit with a Youth Referral Order and 180 hours’ unpaid work.

They all admitted their parts in a dozen break-ins across Bromborough, Willaston, Neston, Hooton, Helsby, Frodsham and rural Chester.

It is thought they got away with around £100,000 of goods.

When detectives began seeing a specific pattern to a string of burglaries – all committed around 11am to noon when the homes were empty, all entered through the back and houses completely ransacked – they began to look at known crooks in the area.

Among the houses burgled was that of a 42-year-old widow in Bromborough.

Among the spoils of sentimental jewellery stolen were her engagement ring, eternity rings, her late husband’s wedding ring and a unique diamond snowflake necklace.

From their intelligence and the previous records of the defendants, police started to delve into the four-strong gang.

When they targeted a house in Hargrave, on the outskirts of Chester, on the morning of Thursday, August 4, they stole a Lexus sports car and thousands of pounds worth of electrical goods and jewellery.