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Two jailed after Cornwall crime spree

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TWO tourists have been jailed after they went on a crime spree raiding a golf club and farm near Padstow and crashing their getaway car during a high-speed police chase.

They also burgled the Bedruthan Steps Hotel near Newquay.

They came from Birmingham for a mini-break but ran out of money and turned to crime during their visit in February.

Matthew Pitt, aged 41, and Paul Gregory, aged 36, struck in Exmouth and North Cornwall before crashing their Renault Clio just feet away from a police station.

They were being chased by police as they drove at high speed on the wrong side of the road after being stopped for entering the pedestrian zone in Barnstaple.

They crashed into a motorist just after they sped past the town's civic centre and police station, Exeter Crown Court heard.

They took a car in Exmouth and abandoned it nearby and then drove their own Renault Clio to Cornwall.

Gregory stole keys, an iPod and a wallet from a guest's room at Trevose Golf and Country Club and left empty-handed after raiding an office.

They broke into the accounts office at the Bedruthan Steps Hotel and stole £800 cash and a laptop, which was later recovered in their car.

Pitt and Gregory, both of Waggon Walk, Birmingham, admitted burglary and theft.

Pitt also admitted dangerous driving, driving while disqualified, and possession of heroin and cannabis.

He asked for the taking of the car from the Cranford Club to be considered and Gregory asked for two burglaries at the golf club and a guest's room at its hotel to be taken into account.

Judge Phillip Wassall jailed Pitt for three years and two months and Gregory for a year and ten months.

He told them: "You did not come to the South West to commit crime but you found yourselves short of money and turned to it, as you have both done many times in the past.

"You both have dreadful records."

Janice Eagles, for the prosecution, said police were able to piece together the pair's trail of crime from the sat-nav in Pitts's car.

Lee Bremridge, defending Pitt, said he went to Cornwall in search of his long-lost father and to escape family problems at home in Birmingham.

Richard Crabb, for Gregory, said he was fleeing Birmingham to escape criminals who were threatening him.

Two jailed after Cornwall crime spree


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