A FORMER businessman responsible for a two-month car crime spree across Barnsley will be sentenced at Crown Court next month because magistrates believe they don’t have the power to hand out a tough enough sentence.

Nicky Rees, 40, used the same technique of smashing unattended car windows to steal bags then using the bank cards inside to make ‘contactless’ purchases of lottery scratch cards.

He was eventually caught following work by police in Barnsley and admitted 19 offences of thefts from cars and fraud, as well as driving without insurance and a licence.

But he went on to admit another 55 offences over a wide area, though locations where his activities were most common included Hoyland and Penistone, with victims in other communities including Dodworth and Silkstone.

Rees pleaded guilty to all the offences and asked police to take another 55 incidents into consideration.

Read more in this weeks Barnsley Chronicle