Jail for brothers who stole thousands of pounds worth of Pokémon cards from Rugby shop

Shane Johnson, 37, appeared at Birmingham Crown Court on August 13 after pleading guilty to burglary with intent to steal at an earlier hearing.

He was sentenced to 45 months and four weeks in prison.

His brother, Keith Johnson, 33, appeared at Birmingham Crown Court on July 2 to be sentenced after admitting the same offences. He was sentenced to 29 months in prison.

The pair targeted Celestial Collectables on Lovely Lane in Warrington in April.

On arrival officers entered the shop though the broken doorway and discovered Pokémon cards strewn across the floor.

Crime Scene Investigators recovered a crowbar from the scene which had been used to smash the glass in the front door and smash shelving and cabinets.

The items stolen were mainly Pokémon cards to the value of £62,000 and damaged caused to the shop itself was in excess of £3,000.

CCTV showed a white Ford transit van was the vehicle used in the burglary but was on cloned number plates.

Further enquiries revealed the van had travelled from Birmingham to Warrington on the day of the burglary. Prior to this it had been captured parked up outside Keith’s address.

This was later found following the burglary on East Avenue in Stockton Heath with a number of Pokémon cards, a box with the shops logo on it along with tools and items for going equipped to a burglary.

CCTV enquiries showed that the van had broken down and the brothers had to push the van along London Road in Warrington onto East Avenue where there was another waiting van which had travelled up from Birmingham.

They transferred their haul into the other van which was later found parked up near Shane’s address.

The brothers then struck at The Graded Gallery in Rugby and again they used a crowbar to break into the shop and cause significant damage to the interior as they stole various items including Pokémon cards.

They then left in the Nissan X-Trail. The total stock stolen and damaged caused was more than £9,000.

Following the burglary West Midlands Police informed Cheshire colleagues that another burglary had taken place in Warwickshire and the Nissan X-Trail involved in the burglary was parked outside Keith's.

West Midlands officers attended the address to arrest the two men, and a search of the property recovered the keys to the van used in the Warrington burglary along with stolen property belonging to Celestial Collectables along with the keys to the Nissan X-Trail and more stole property from other commercial burglaries.

The clothes they were wearing at the time of the Warrington burglary, including Shane’s trainers were also recovered when the men were arrested.

DC Hannah Smith said: “The overwhelming evidence collected through our extensive enquiries put them at both crime scenes giving them no choice but to plead guilty.

"The brothers will now have to pay the price for their part in their criminal Pokémon enterprise.”