Serial Burglars Jailed After Preying on Families for Asian Gold

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A father and son have now been sentenced for their roles in a travelling burglary gang that targeted homes in the North East and North West of England, specifically searching for high-value Asian gold and jewellery.

James Loveridge, a senior, 40, and his son James Loveridge, a junior, now 21, were part of a group that travelled from the Greater Manchester area to carry out a series of organised break-ins. The gang used cloned number plates and stayed in a rented Airbnb in County Durham to conceal their movements while committing the crimes.

The pair broke into a five-bedroom bungalow in Ashington, Northumberland, on March 18, 2022. Later the same day, they raided a home in Thornaby, where the victims, owners of a local takeaway, were alerted via internal security cameras that someone was inside their house.

When they returned, they discovered that a safe containing passports, a luxury watch, family jewellery, and £10,000 in cash had been taken. The total loss was estimated to be around £40,000. CCTV footage showed three men entering the property through an open window.

Prosecutor Neil Pallister told the court the burglars had deliberately targeted households they believed would be storing Asian gold, which refers to high-carat jewellery often passed down through generations in South Asian families.

The emotional toll on the victims was significant. One of them told the court, “This crime has really affected me and my family.. Now we are all so scared, and my youngest child won’t stay in the front room without anyone there with him. He is terrified the men will come again.”

Following the North East raids, the gang moved north to Scotland, where they carried out a similar burglary. Both men have already been sentenced for that offence. Loveridge senior was also involved in two burglaries in Stockport in July 2024, where gold and jewellery were again the main targets. In those cases, cleaning products were used to remove forensic traces from the scene.

James Loveridge, a senior who has 19 previous convictions and no fixed address, received a sentence of six years and nine months. His son, who was 17 at the time of the offences and lives on Pringle Street, Rochdale, was sentenced to two years in a young offenders institution. He has seven previous convictions, including an aggravated burglary in 2021 where he and others broke into the home of an elderly couple and removed jewellery from their wrists while they lay in bed.

During sentencing, the court heard that the gang operated in a coordinated manner, using multiple vehicles with fake plates and exploiting short-term accommodation to mask their activities.

Defending Loveridge senior, Harriet Eglinton said he had travelled to Newcastle to mark St Patrick’s Day and enquire about purchasing a vehicle. “They both come from the travelling community, and St Patrick’s Day is a big day, like Christmas Day,” she explained. She added that he was ashamed of his actions, describing them as poor decisions made during a difficult period.

Joe Hedworth, representing Loveridge junior, argued that the younger man was in a different position to his father and had faced a difficult upbringing.