A THIEF, who stole jewellery worth tens of thousands of pounds during burglaries in Suffolk, Cambridgeshire, Kent and Gloucestershire, has been jailed.

Colin Adwent

A THIEF, who stole jewellery worth tens of thousands of pounds during burglaries in Suffolk, Cambridgeshire, Kent and Gloucestershire, has been jailed.

Dapper Robin Brown, who used to work for celebrity chef Antony Worrall Thompson, blended in with commuters by wearing a designer suit and carrying a briefcase - which he used to carry a crowbar.

He is now serving a four-year prison sentence after he was eventually caught in Kent following a break-in.

The 43-year-old drug addict, of Poplar, London, stole items worth around �18,000 in two burglaries in Aldeburgh and Stratford St Andrew last year.

At his sentencing, Gloucester Crown Court was told how Brown, a chef, had left his well-paid job under Mr Worrall Thompson in 2002 to become self-employed. However, he developed a �300-a-day cocaine habit and resorted to crime.

On March 6 last year he stole jewellery valued at almost �6,000 from a property in Church Farm Road, Aldeburgh.

The previous day he had broken into another premises in Hall Hill, Parham, near Leiston, but only got away with �5.

Brown then left empty-handed after attempting to get into another property in Rendham on March 9, during which he caused damage while trying to enter the premises.

He was more successful on March 31, when he stole jewellery valued at approximately �12,000 from a house in Great Glemham Road, Stratford St Andrew.

Brown was finally arrested on November 17 at Borough Green Rail Station in Kent.

Shortly before his arrest a resident returned to her home in Tolsey Mead to find a window smashed and items missing. As she rang police she realised a man was in her garden.

He was quickly located at the railway station. When officers searched Brown they found that he had property from the address in Tolsey Mead.

At Brown's sentencing the court heard he committed two offences in Kent, three in Gloucestershire and one in Cambridgeshire, as well as the four in Suffolk.

After the case, Detective Constable Bob Baigent, of Kent Police, said: “Robin Brown was a professional burglar yet anyone seeing him on the train carrying a briefcase and wearing a suit would simply have thought of him as another commuter travelling to work.”