Inside the investigation: How we brought burglary gang to justice

​Today at Lincoln Crown Court (21 March) two men were jailed and a further two handed suspended sentences for conspiracy to commit burglary and fraud. They callously targeted hard-working people doing their utmost for their local communities, using every trick in the book to deceive and manipulate their victims for their own greed and financial gain. 

We wanted to share how ‘Operation Hotton’ evolved, featuring key moments of the investigation.  We spoke with the detective leading the case who told us how he finally arrived at the light bulb moment when he realised that he finally had what was needed to bring these criminals before the courts.

Det Sgt Petty, of our Serious and Organised Crime Unit, said: "Three pivotal moments provided crucial evidence to implicate the co-conspirators.

"Firstly, in May 2023, Darren Wykes (46) and Daniel Sutherland (40) were arrested in Ingoldmells, in a van owned by Sutherland which had been identified as being involved in previous sneak in burglaries. A search of the van revealed a stolen purse and a Blue Light Card which had been taken from a sneak in burglary an hour before from a doctor’s surgery in Alford. Detailed examinations were carried out on burner phones seized from the van. Huge amounts of data were analysed which led to the identification and implication of George Quinn (57). But there still wasn’t sufficient evidence to bring a case to the CPS for the entire conspiracy and they were released on bail while extensive investigations continued in the background, as we had suspected their criminal activity extended way beyond what being presented to us at that time. 

“Secondly, practically a year later, in March 2024, Wykes was arrested in Bristol, in a Mercedes registered to his wife. He was found to be in possession of bank cards that had been stolen several hours prior, from a doctor’s surgery in Yate, Bristol. He was also found to have a wallet that had been stolen two weeks before from a pub in Southampton. From each arrest we were obtaining more evidence to build a robust case. He was further bailed while the investigation progressed.

“Thirdly, a major enforcement (warrant) happened in May 2024, where Wykes and Quinn were arrested at their respective home addresses. A wallet stolen five days prior from an engineer’s van who was working at a pub near Oxford, was found inside a pair of workman shorts in the kitchen of Wykes’ home. There was also a burner phone found in the same shorts. Subsequent analysis of this phone’s data showed that it was almost solely in contact with one number – not-so-coincidently this corresponding phone was seized during the enforcement at Quinn’s home address that same day. This was another burner phone used by Quinn to make calls to landlines and mobiles, deceiving more victims into giving over their pin numbers."

Crucially, from this phone, Det Sgt Petty identified several other numbers which had been called by Quinn’s phone, which turned out to be a further 17 victims. 

Following his arrest in March 2024, Wykes stopped using vehicles that were linked to him.  This is when he enlisted the help of a close associate called David Ovington (59). Thanks to the analysis of the phones seized during the major enforcement in May, we spotted that Ovington’s vehicle was implicated in the offences which were carried out after the arrests in March 2024, which corresponded with when Wykes had stopped using his wife’s car after being arrested in that vehicle, being aware that police were actively watching it.

Knowing he was wanted, Sutherland then handed himself in on 6 June 2024.

On 7 August 2024, all four answered bail at Lincoln Police Station, where they were charged with various offences of conspiracy to commit burglary and fraud.

Wykes and Quinn appeared before Lincoln Magistrates' Court the following day where they were remanded into custody and have remained until sentencing today.

While all four eventually pleaded guilty at the last hour to carrying out the 46 offences within this conspiracy period, it is suspected that there may be far more offences for which we do not have sufficient evidence to meet the prosecution thresholds required to bring them to trial.

Through the analytical work carried out around Wykes’ bank account from the past six years, we suspect that he may have committed many more offences which have not yet been identified.

The crimes this gang have committed are known as lifestyle offences, where the money made is used to fund a lavish life-style – of which expensive holidays, electrical items, large amounts of cash and foreign exchange currency, and purchasing luxury jewellery are just some examples. We know that, despite purportedly having a limited income, Wykes would frequently enjoy lavish holidays to exotic locations.

As such, we are doing everything in our power alongside the criminal investigation to facilitate a separate Proceeds of Crime Act investigation which is running in parallel to establish the financial value of the proceeds derived from their offending and to bring about any subsequent confiscation orders in respect of that. The aim of these orders being to make the defendants pay back what they have benefitted from their crimes, which is a life order.

Summing up the result, Det Sgt Petty said: "These criminals shamelessly exploited people by callously engineering alarming situations to trick them into handing over their PINs.  This was a sophisticated operation, but with the dedication and analytical expertise of myself, one analyst and one financial investigator, we are immensely proud to have secured justice for so many victims with such slim resource.

"We appreciate the impact such crimes have on their victims.  Invasion of privacy, theft and manipulation are frightening and leave a long-lasting impact.

"We hope that the 48 victims in this case can take some solace knowing that these criminals are now behind bars for their deceit and greed."