A trio of burglars followed a couple home from the airport and then ambushed them whilst they were unpacking from their holiday.
Jhony Ramirez-Loayza, Arturo Mendivil-Valvin and Arturo Flores-Marquez have been jailed following the terrifying ordeal. The gang left the couple to feel unsafe in their own home, said a prosecutor.
Caernarfon Crown Court heard that they followed the couple back from Manchester Airport. The pair, who live in Wrexham, North Wales, were chaufer-driven home on December 1 last year. Prosecutor Michael Whitty said the man and his chauffeur had taken the bags out of the car and placed a briefcase between the door and porch.
When the homeowner ran upstairs to put some items away, he returned to find one of the suspects exiting his hallway. At this point, the chauffeur had already left. The man then contacted his driver, who said he hadn’t taken the luggage and returned to the property, the court was told. Mr Whitty said the briefcase contained 400 US dollars, £100, Thai currency, sensitive business documents and a banking fob. Police were alerted and officers traced a hired car which had followed the victims from the airport. It had been rented by one of the defendants – Jhony Ramirez-Loayza.
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The incident happened after the couple arrived at Manchester Airport
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Image:
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The following day, on December 2, police then stopped their hire car on the M602 between Salford and Manchester, and arrested all three men inside. They were Ramirez-Loayza, 56, of Hemberton Road, London, Mendivil-Valvin, 49, of Delta Street, London and Flores-Marquez, 59, of Upper Clapton Road, Clapton, London.
One of the burglars, Arturo Mendivil-Valvina, a Cuban national living in Guatemala, had travelled from France to the UK in a small boat and entered the country illegally, NorthWalesLive reports. CCTV footage showed two of the men approaching the victims’ house just after 1.20pm the previous day. The third was believed to be the getaway driver.
The trio all admitted burglary and were all jailed for two years and are likely to be deported. A judge said their crime had had a considerable effect on the victims. “She has lost her sense of peace of mind and her sense of safety in her home,” said Mr Whitty. The couple have a child with special needs and now struggle to find carers to come to their home, the court was told.
All three defendants had the benefit of a Spanish interpreter at the hearing. Alun Williams, for Ramirez-Loayza, said he had hired the car. He is a Peruvian national living near Madrid in Spain with his wife and elderly parents. Mr Williams said Mendivil-Valvin is a Cuban national with a wife in Guatemala. He had entered the UK illegally and is anxious to support his family.
Laura McMillan, defending Flores-Marquez, who is also Peruvian, said he had shown genuine remorse. He has four children, one daughter has mobility problems. The judge His Honour Timothy Petts said the men had shown a degree of planning. Two had visitors’ visas and one is in the UK illegally. All would serve half of their sentences then be deported if they hadn’t been deported by then already, he added.