A PROLIFIC criminal from Romford has been jailed for more than five years after he admitted carrying out more than 200 burglaries.
Joseph Lewis, 22, of Lower Bedfords Road, was sentenced to five years and four months at Southend Crown Court on January 24 after he was convicted of three burglaries and the theft of a motor vehicle.
At the hearing he admitted to carrying out a further 217 burglary offences across north-east London and west Essex since 2005; offences which were taken into consideration during his sentencing.
Police officers arrested Lewis on April 13, 2012 at Hogbar Farm Caravan Park, in Lower Bedfords Road, Harold Hill.
He was arrested in an intelligence-led operation involving officers from the North East Detections Team (NEDT) in Havering and the Territorial Support Group.
The NEDT is a special unit comprising officers from the Met's five north-east boroughs plus Essex Police. Detective Sergeant Brett Hagen said: "Lewis is a prolific cross-border and cross-constabulary burglar.
"The unique nature of the North East Detections Team has allowed us to maximise our detections and adopt a corporate approach to dealing with this priority crime offender.
"I would like to praise PC Alex McGarrigle and Det Con Fin Foley who have completed over 20 Home Office Production Orders with Lewis to facilitate the taken-into-consideration (TIC) process.
"His sentence reflects the gravity and scale of his offending and over 200 victims now have closure on their burglary crimes."
Detective Inspector Lee Barnard said: "Since its creation in May 2012, the NEDT has achieved nearly 900 priority crime detections by way of TIC.
"They have achieved detections for 17 Met boroughs and three county forces.
"This is due to the hard work, dedication and professionalism of the entire team."
