Two men jailed for a total of 10 years after a series of car thefts saw them caught going the wrong way up the M6 in Preston

Adam Blease, 34, of Altway, Liverpool and Neil Farthing also 34 of Pennard Avenue, Liverpool, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to burgle (which includes several domestic burglaries) at addresses across Lancashire, Cheshire and Merseyside.

In the Lancashire area alone, Blease admitted being responsible for ten house burglaries in Blackburn, Belmont, Clitheroe and Blackpool during March and April 2020 where he stole six high performance vehicles valued at over £200,000 including two BMW M3’s, an Audi RS5, an Audi S3, a BMW 140 and a Skoda VRS. Four of the vehicles were eventually recovered.

Blease and Farthing were arrested by Lancashire Police Tac Ops on 4th May as they attempted to drive the wrong way down a slip road on the M6 at Bamber Bridge in a stolen BMW. Farthing was arrested at the scene and Blease made off into Cuerden Valley Park where a dog patrol found him hiding in bushes.

Police enquiries later linked them to a number of other house burglaries across the North West.

Today (July 22nd) they appeared at Chester Crown Court where Blease was sentenced to 6 years 8 months and Farthing was sentenced to 4 years 8 months.

DC Andy Lever from East Target Team at Lancashire Police said: “Blease and Farthing were organised criminals who left a trail of misery across the North West as they burgled victim’s houses to steal high value vehicles. The vast majority of the burglaries were committed at night time whilst the victims slept upstairs. Whilst we were able to recover some of the stolen vehicles, the impact of the burglaries are still being felt by the victims. Hopefully these sentences will give the victims some closure.”