Two prolific criminals connected with 21 burglaries across St Albans have each been jailed for five years.

Herts Advertiser: Anthony Wilson.Anthony Wilson. (Image: Archant)

Dixie Palache, 50, from Pamala Street in London, and Anthony Wilson, 48, from Ferndale Road in Tottenham, were sentenced following a search of an Oysterfields property in December 2017, which uncovered a vast number of stolen goods.

It included jewellery, watches, foreign currency and electrical items linked to at least 13 victims.

Searches of Palache and Wilson’s respective addresses also yielded ‘burglary kits’ and more stolen property - they were sentenced relating to crimes between October 2017 and February 2018.

The pair pleaded guilty to conspiracy to burgle on the second day of their hearing at St Albans Crown Court.

Det Con Paul Cullinan, from the Herts police Specialist Investigation Team, said: “Anthony Wilson and Dixie Palache committed a spree of burglaries; they had a complete disregard for their victims and thought they could evade police detection.

“It is thanks to great work by our officers that these prolific criminals are now behind bars and we have been able to return stolen property to the rightful owners.

“We fully understand the devastating impact that burglary has, both on the victims themselves and the wider community. We have been working hard to bring offenders to justice and will continue our relentless pursuit of those involved in crime.”

Proceedings have been set in motion to provide compensation to the victims of the burglaries.

St Albans Ch Insp Stuart Cheek added: “This sentence sends out a strong message that we will utilise our specialist central teams, as well as local resources to target this type of criminality.

“I am grateful for the quality of investigation and support provided by Det Con Cullinan, which was well supported by our team at St Albans.”

Anyone with information about crime should contact Herts police on 101, or Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.