Shropshire judge in race hate crime warning after 120-burglary gang is jailed

Judge Jim Tindal, sitting at Shrewsbury Crown Court, said he feared the possibility of recriminations against Eastern Europeans in the county following the "evil" actions of a

.

Speaking after sentencing Grazvydas Kasarauskas, Giedrius Batutis, Tomas Juospaitis and Gytis Dambasuskas to a total of more than 35 years behind bars, he said: "The decision in this case and the sentence must not be misunderstood or mis-used.

"I am fully aware, looking in the real world, that there are some people out there who will look at this and say 'this is what happens when you have immigrants'.

"This was a case of organised crime, pure and simple. We have had problems with organised crime in this country through British people for a very long time.

"The reality is they were offending all over Europe.

"Swedish, Finnish, Danish families suffered pretty much the same as the families did here.

"Crime like this does not respect borders, but it does require international co-operation.

"I have been sat here since January as the new judge in Shrewsbury and I have been made to feel very welcome.

"In all that time, more or less five months, I have dealt with hundreds and hundreds of offenders.

"The vast majority of them are British nationals.

"It's important in the current climate, where we are aware that people in Cambridgeshire are having notes pushed through their letter boxes with the words 'Polish vermin' on.

"Where people on trains in Manchester are being racially abused, and of course some incidents pretty much close to home.

"It's important for me to acknowledge these men are utterly unrepresentative of the people who do work in our community."

The judge referred to a recent study that said people from Eastern Europe in particular areas reduce the rate of crime there, not increase it, because of their likelihood to work.

Speaking of the gang who preyed on homes in Shropshire, he said: "The evil these men have done should not be held against people who happen to come from the same part of the world. That would be grotesque.

"I am very well aware the Shropshire Star, on Monday, reported the concerns of police officers about the significant increase in hate crimes in the county.

"I am very grateful the paper did that, informing the people of Shropshire.

"The law requires any court to treat any offence which appears to be motivated by racism or bigotry as a significant aggravating factor.

"In some cases, it can turn an offence which may not have led to a custodial sentence into one that does.

"It is right for me to say this – everyone needs to understand not only the importance of tolerance, but the fact that the courts will take a very hard line on any such offending.

"It has no place in modern society, and certainly no place in Shropshire."

The court heard a number of the 120 homes burgled by the men from July to October last year were in Shropshire.

In all but eight of the burglaries, the owners of the homes were not in at the time of the break-in, the court heard.

In one case, the judge revealed, an elderly woman who was in hospital at the time of the burglary at her home in July last year died six weeks later.

The break-ins included a three-bedroom bungalow in Ludlow, where the thieves got in via the kitchen window and two gold sovereigns, a wedding ring and engagement ring were taken.

Also, in a four-bedroom detached property in Morda, near Oswestry, a kitchen window was forced and thieves got away with items including a man's watch, two gold necklaces, costume jewellery, 400 Singapore dollars and £200 worth of euros.