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A well-known Liverpool businessman took part in a raid on the luxurious home of former Liverpool FC star Raheem Sterling.
Thomas Mee, 42, a member of a three-man team that targeted the homes of wealthy Americans across the country.
Mee worked intensively with Liverpool men John Barlow, 58, and Vincent Ball, 52, to target the houses, using stairs to access the balconies on the first floor.
The men stole part of a million pounds of luxury items, adding designer handbags and other luxury items.
The men arrested after a raid on the Cheshire house of Bury FC owner Steve Dale last October.
Prosecutor Simon Parry told the Chester Crown Magistrates’ Court how the three men used cars with fake license plates and ‘dirty phones’ to attack 14 houses in Cheshire, Nottinghamshire, Worcestershire, Buckinghamshire and Warwickshire.
Mee is well known in Liverpool’s commercial network and has long been associated with Mees Group, which specializes in demolition, removal and cleaning of asbestos.
Mee’s not in the group anymore.
Mee, who has been concerned about demolition since 2005, connected very well and worked with some of the region’s leading developers.
Today, Parry revealed how, on November 4, 2018, Mee worried about a robbery at the home of Manchester City star Raheem Sterling in Cheshire.
The alarm at Cheshire Manor upset Mee and Ball, who left empty-handed.
The court also learned that ten days later, the organized team had been in a break-in at Jamiroquai’s star Jay Kay’s home.
On this occasion, Mee and Barlow went to a hotel in Buckinghamshire to report the robbery.
But the raid was not a good fortune and, the two men reportedly stole only one camera in the house.
Judge Steven Everett said Mee was directly involved in eight of the team’s 14 thefts.
On 5 October 2019, the robbers were disturbed while they were at Mr Dale’s Prestbury house.
Watches worth between 300,000 and 500,000 euros were abandoned by intruders while Mr Dale’s son chased her and left the assets with a 10 euro bill.
They were subsequently arrested and pieces such as hoods, binoculars, tongs and cloned license plates were discovered in a car used by the men.
This arrest ended the crime frenzy.
Parry also told the court that police discovered photographs on Mee’s cell phones on which he appeared, providing some of the pieces stolen in the robberies.
In particular, several photographs of handbags were discovered on her phone.
The court revealed how many of the homeowners attacked through the men lost a valuable circle of family pieces of wonderful sentimental value.
In a victim’s statement has an effect, Susan Irlam told the court how a break-in at her Cheshire home had affected her family.
She said her space was a dream when they moved in, but that’s no longer the case.
She said the circle of relatives now constantly cares about their home and their own safety. He said the family circle had been greatly affected by the fact that his son had even left his post in college due to the strain on the house.
In a court-in-court reading, Cheryl Batson, who owned jewellery and handbags worth 146,000 euros, as well as a Louis Vuitton scarf, taken home to Willaston, Cheshire, said she suffered from anxiety and misery after the raid.
Mee, from Queens Drive, Liverpool, Ball of Ranworth Place, Liverpool and Barlow, who are homeless, have pleaded guilty to the burger-making conspiracy. They have been on remand and will be sentenced on Monday.
Judge Everett said, “These three defendants will have to appreciate the effect of their horrible movements on all those people.”