Antiques burglar caught by Nottinghamshire Police after leaving blood at the scene of £10k theft in Newark

A wanted burglar responsible for stealing over £10,000 worth of stock from an antiques shop has been caught.

Response officers spotted and chased down Stephen Joynes while attending a call about someone acting suspiciously in London Road, Newark, on the morning of Saturday (April 26).

While questioning Joynes, officers realised he was the chief suspect in a break-in.

The 32-year-old put himself on police officers’ radar after he used a garden spade to smash the window of Newark Antiques and Interiors Ltd, on Kelham Road, in the early hours of March 29.

Joynes cut himself while climbing over the glass during the break-in, which saw around £11,000 worth of jewellery and antiques stolen from within the store.

When the scene of the break-in was examined by response officers and the Crime Scene Investigation team, they found Joynes’ blood at the window and were able to identify him as being the person responsible for the burglary.

After being caught over the weekend and presented with the strong case already built against him, the thief pleaded guilty to burglary at his first court appearance at Nottingham Magistrates’ Court on Monday, April 28, when the charge was put to him.

Joynes, of no fixed address, was released on conditional bail until his sentencing hearing at Mansfield Magistrates’ Court on May 29.

Sergeant Greg Saxelby, of Nottinghamshire Police, said: “This was a great example of multiple teams working together and communicating effectively with one another to identify and catch a wanted offender.

“Our Newark response team had already spotted and detained Stephen Joynes in connection with a separate incident, when they realised he was in fact an outstanding suspect in a burglary where several thousand pounds worth of items were stolen.

“That we were able to connect him to that was down to some great work between the response officers in attendance and the CSI team, who managed to link Joynes to blood found next to a window that had been smashed to gain entry to the shop in question.

“I’d also like to commend officers for working through the night after bringing Joynes in to compile the casefile needed to bring a charge against him the next morning.

“This evidence was so strong that he was left with no alternative but to admit what he’d done in court at the first opportunity, so it was really pleasing to have achieved this positive result.”