Two members of a burglary gang who both live in Walthamstow have been jailed for stealing jewellery worth thousands of pounds from properties across Cambridgeshire.
Marian Cercel, 53, and Ionut Craciun, 36, were part of a gang linked to 27 burglaries in Cambridgeshire and Buckinghamshire in which jewellery worth more than £130,000 was stolen.
The gang began by targeting a property in Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire, on 12th November last year, where they attempted to take a safe and other property they stowed in a case. The victim returned home and chased the burglars away empty-handed.
Undeterred, the gang went on to commit 16 further burglaries or attempted burglaries in Peterborough, nine in the Cambridge area and another in High Wycombe.
On each occasion they travelled from London to target properties they believed were unoccupied. They broke in and searched for jewellery and cash, often leaving other valuable items behind.
Among the offences was a break-in on 29th November 2025 in which they stole jewellery worth £25,300 from a property in Eastfield, Peterborough. They returned to the city on 19th December for their nineteenth offence — the highest value burglary of the spree — breaking into a property in central Peterborough via a patio door and stealing gold jewellery worth £72,000. On 2nd January this year they targeted the city again, taking jewellery worth £25,000 from a home in Dogsthorpe.
The spree came to an end on 7th January when a Ford Mondeo detectives had linked to the gang was spotted in the Cambridge area. The vehicle was stopped and three men were arrested. Gold rings from a break-in earlier that evening were found in the centre console — the only stolen property recovered from any of the burglaries.
Each of the men had the same Nokia 105 dual sim mobile phone, handsets bought in batches to coordinate the offences. An investigation found the gang regularly changed the vehicles they used and insured them using false details.
They were linked to the crimes through CCTV footage, automatic number plate recognition software, phone data and forensic evidence from some of the scenes.
Both men were sentenced on Thursday 6th August at Cambridge Crown Court after admitting conspiring to commit burglary with intent to steal. Cercel, of Mount Pleasant Road, was jailed for seven years and two months, and Craciun, of Hatherley Road, for six years and nine months. They also admitted knowingly entering the UK in breach of a deportation order.
DC Megan Sims said: "This was a sophisticated crime spree, with the gang going to significant lengths to avoid detection in what was a targeted and thoroughly planned operation. Much of what was stolen had great sentimental, as well as monetary, value and can never be replaced."
