Two Behind Bars for Callous Burglary in Seale

Published on: 19 Mar, 2022
Updated on: 20 Mar, 2022

Two men have been sentenced for a callous burglary in which a car and a large amount of jewellery, including items of great sentimental value, were stolen from a house in Seale, off the Hog’s Back, between Guildford and Farnham.

Thomas McCarthy

Thomas Christopher McCarthy, 32 of Allenby Road, Southall, London pleaded guilty and was sentenced to two years and one month in prison for burglary and theft of a motor vehicle at Guildford Crown Court on Tuesday, March 15.

His accomplice Martin McDonagh, 34 of Ilderton Road, Southwark, London was sentenced to two years and five months in prison. He had pleaded guilty to the same offences on 20 April 2021.

Police officers were called to Seale Lane, Seale, Farnham in January last year following reports of a burglary.

Martin McDonagh

Three family members were returning to their house when they passed two cars. Moments later, when they arrived home, they saw that it had been their own car that they had witnessed being driven away by thieves and they quickly realised that their house had been broken into.

At that point, the audacious criminals drove past the house again. The quick-thinking victims were able to take down the registration plate of the other car before losing sight of it.

As well as the car, a large amount of high value, sentimental jewellery had been taken from the home. The victims called the police, reporting the suspicious vehicle which they had seen accompanying their car earlier on.

Shortly afterwards, officers in Surrey Police’s Roads Policing Unit located the vehicle on the A3, close to Wisley services. The occupants of the vehicle were arrested on suspicion of burglary. They had thrown various stolen items out of the car onto the A3, which the roads policing officers were able to retrieve.

A member of the public later called in to report the victims’ vehicle had been abandoned in Farnham with the keys in the ignition.

Police constable Kat Sandys says: “The three victims did very well to calmly take down the registration number of the car involved so soon after the shock of seeing their own car driven past them by burglars and returning home to find their house had been broken into.

“It was thanks to them being so alert that the Roads Policing Unit could locate and arrest the perpetrators quickly which took a great deal of tenacity on their part as the conditions were tricky with the road being so busy and the items so small and hard to find in the dark. Thank you too to the member of the public who phoned in the abandoned stolen vehicle.

“We do not tolerate people targeting our county to commit crime and I am pleased to see these two men put behind bars.”